Milestones in ERS History In 2011, ERS celebrated its 50th
Anniversary, but the Agency traces its history back to 1905.
During most - but not all - of the intervening years, USDA's
economic research functions enjoyed agency status and were
housed in a single 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 conditio