History of ERS

For nearly a century, the Economic Research Service and its predecessor agencies have supported USDA programs with economic data, research, and analysis needed for sound decision-making. Henry C. Taylor (1873-1969)—who served as the first chief of the Bureau of Agricultural Economics from 1922 to 1925—set the stage for much of the work done in ERS today by organizing economic research into one agency and expanding the role of economics for understanding our food and agriculture system.

Early in the 20th century, agricultural research focused on farmers and the rural population, a focus that has gradually broadened to include most demographic groups in the United States. Although most U.S. farms are still family farms, most farmer operators now rely on off-farm jobs as their primary source of income. Non-farm manufacturing and service industries are the mainstay of most rural economies, and two-thirds of U.S. farms are either in or adjacent to metropolitan counties.

ERS continues to inform and enhance public and private decision making on economic and policy issues related to agriculture and rural development, the same central concerns of USDA economic research activity in the early 1900s. However, ERS’s mission today has broadened to reflect the changed environment of our food and agriculture system, and it now includes research on such topics as food safety and nutrition, natural resources, conservation, and the environment.

ERS and Its Predecessor Agencies

Officially established in 1961, the Economic Research Service has its origins in the 1905 formation of the Office of Farm Management that was set up to examine economic aspects of farming within USDA’s Bureau of Plant Industry.

Milestones Include:

1905—USDA establishes the Office of Farm Management, which is renamed the Office of Farm Management and Farm Economics in 1919. Research areas are established for farm organization, cost of production, farm labor, farm finance, land economics, agricultural history, and rural life studies. President Roosevelt’s Country Life Commission recommended that USDA expand its agricultural economic research on the problems of farm families.

1922—Government leaders conclude that economic research and analysis could help farmers solve their price and income problems, and they establish the Bureau of Agricultural Economics (BAE) with Henry C. Taylor as chief.

1923—The BAE holds the first annual USDA Outlook Conference in an effort to make information on market conditions more accessible to farmers. The conference resulted in regular publication of market outlook reports that continue to be valued by users of ERS research products today.

1930s—Congress passes legislation for a variety of New Deal programs for agriculture. Acreage allotments and quotas, price-support loans, Federal crop insurance for farmers, and regional research laboratories were established. The first programs for soil conservation and food assistance were created, and programs to benefit rural communities were also implemented. USDA assigns BAE the role of central planning agency for department policy and the responsibility for analyzing policy impacts during this period.

1953—USDA centralizes agricultural policy planning in its administrative office and reassigns the economic research and service functions of BAE to two new agencies, the Agricultural Marketing Service and the Agricultural Research Service.

1961—USDA creates the Economic Research Service (ERS) to concentrate economic research within a single agency. The following year, ERS expands its research focus to include economic development, rural renewal, river basin and watershed programs, and resource policy.

1977—ERS merged briefly with USDA’s statistical agency and was called the Economics, Statistics and Cooperatives Service (ESCS), but was later returned to agency status in 1981.

Present—For the last four decades, ERS has provided expert economic analysis and economic data to farmers, consumers and policymakers as new technology and changes in domestic policy and the rules for trade continue to alter the global marketplace. See our Flash presentation, Forty Years of Service.

Administrators of ERS, 1961 to the Present

For More Information on ERS and Public service:

• Baker, G. L. and W.D. Rasmussen. 1975. “Economic Research in the Department of Agriculture: A Historical Perspective.” Agricultural Economics Research, Vol. 27, No. 3-4, July-October.
  
• Centennial Committee, U.S. Department of Agriculture. 1963. Century of Service: the first 100 years of the United States Department of Agriculture. Washington D.C.
  
• Economic Research Service. 1991. Economics and Public Service: Proceedings of the 30th Anniversary ERS Conference. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington D.C.
  
• National Research Council. 1999. Sowing Seeds of Change: Informing Public Policy in the Economic Research Service of USDA. J.F. Geweke, J.T. Bonnen, A.A. White and J. J. Koshel, Editors. National Academy Press, Washington, DC.