The Agency's work is structured among three program divisions and one support division:

• Food and Rural Economics
• Market and Trade Economics
• Resource Economics
• Information Services

The program encompasses research, analyses of food and commodity markets, policy studies, and development of economic and statistical indicators. The information and analyses are produced for use by the private sector and to help the executive and legislative branches of the Federal Government develop, administer, and evaluate farm, food, rural, and resource policies and programs.

ERS staff disseminates economic information and research results through an array of academic and policy- and public-oriented outlets, including:

• Agency-published research reports, market analysis and outlook reports, and articles in ERS periodicals
  
  
• This website (www.ers.usda.gov), which provides access to all ERS products through topical briefing rooms and key topics pages, and links users directly with ERS analysts
  
  
• Oral briefings, written staff analyses, and congressionally mandated studies delivered directly to executive and legislative branch policymakers and program administrators
  
  
• articles published in high quality journals including, the American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Journal of Development Economics, Review of Economics and Statistics, Journal of Economic Perspectives, Journal of the American Statistical Association, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, American Journal of Public Health, Industrial and Labor Relations Review, and Oxford Economics Papers; and
  
  
• Papers presented to academic colleagues at the annual meetings of the Allied Social Science Association, the American Agricultural Economics Association, and other scientific and professional organizations

In addition to research reports and market analysis reports, ERS publishes several nationally recognized periodicals. Agricultural Outlook, FoodReview, and Rural America communicate the findings of economic analyses of farm, food, environmental, and rural issues to commodity and trade associations, the media, public interest groups, Congressional and executive branch policymakers and their staffs, and the general public. Research reports and periodicals are widely disseminated in print and electronically through the ERS website.

The following pages highlight ERS' ongoing responsibilities by division.

Food and Rural Economics Division

The Food and Rural Economics Division conducts economic, demographic, sociological, and geographical research on policy issues of importance to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Specific areas of expertise include:

• Food consumption
• Food safety
• Food assistance
• Diet and health
• The structure of the food sector
• Retail food prices
• Demographic changes in rural areas
• Rural labor and credit markets
• Rural economics
  
  

The Division's analysis of food and rural policy issues ensures that consumers' and small-town residents' perspectives are represented in policy discussions. The impact of policy on low-income individuals and households is of particular interest.

The Division is also responsible for conducting studies and evaluations of the Nation's food assistance and nutrition programs. In addition to intramural research, the Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Program (FANRP) funds a portfolio of extramural research topics designed to meet the critical information needs of progam managers, policy officials, the research community, and the public. Information on the competitive grants and cooperative agreements programs can be obtained from the ERS website: http://www.ers.usda.gov/briefing/FoodNutritionAssistance/funding/awards2001.htm

Food and Rural Economics Division staff work in the following specialty areas:

• Consumer economics/household
• Behavior/family economics
• Credit, finance, and risk
• Labor and demographics
• Market structure and pricing
• Regional economics
• Rural economics
• Welfare and poverty economics

Market and Trade Economics Division

The Market and Trade Economics Division conducts economic research and analysis on U.S. and global economic and policy factors affecting the structure and performance of agricultural markets and trade. The Division monitors market indicators; provides mid- to long-term forecasts of agricultural market conditions; and assesses the technological, economic, policy, and institutional forces that influence U.S. and world agricultural markets. With strong country/regional and commodity market expertise, the research program provides science-based knowledge and analytic expertise for informed public policy and program decisions.

Specific research topics include:

• Analyzing and managing farm risk
• Developing conceptual and empirical economic frameworks to analyze the "unfinished business" and "new" issues for agriculture in the World Trade Organization
• Assessing field crop biotechnology and implications for market structure, pricing, and trade
• Quantifying economic implications of regional market integration
• Examining economic implications of industrialization and concentration in agriculture
• Reassessing global macroeconomic linkages to U.S. agriculture
• Enhancing capacity for commodity price forecasting and projections

Market and Trade Economics Division staff work in the following specialty areas:

• Commodity and food markets
• Credit, finance, and risk
• International economics
• Market structure and pricing
• Production economics
• Comparative economic systems

Resource Economics Division

The Resource Economics Division conducts research in three areas:

• The interactions among natural resources, environmental quality, and agricultural production and consumption
• The economics of agricultural research and development and technological change
• The structure and financial performance of the agricultural sector
  

Specific topics include:

• Conservation and environmental programs
• Global resources
• Agricultural research and productivity
• Technology and sustainability
• Trade and the environment
• Production practices and the environment
• Land use
• Water use and management
• Farm structure
• Farm finance
• Risk management
• Farm sector performance

Resource Economics Division staff work in the following specialty areas:

• Credit, finance, and risk
• Industrial organization
• International economics
• Natural resource/environmental economics
• Production economics/farm management
• Public economics
• Regional economics
• Research and development/technological change

Information Services Division

The Information Services Division manages and directs agencywide information technology and communication activities.

To support the ERS mission, the Division:

• Builds and maintains a powerful analytic and communications environment
• Delivers modern information technologies and resources to the desktops of ERS staff
• Trains ERS staff to take maximum advantage of those technologies and resources
• Develops and maintains information and data dissemination systems to deliver the agency's products in an effective, efficient, and timely manner
• Publishes agency-sponsored research reports and periodicals
  
  

The Information Services Division integrates the various electronic and traditional print media used to disseminate ERS products to its clientele into a streamlined delivery system, including ERS's Internet site. In addition, ERS's internal website provides its staff with electronic access to internal information resources and data systems.



web administration: webadmin@ers.usda.gov
page updated: January 23, 2002