Editing Economic Research Service (section)

==History==
The first USDA agency formally tasked with data collection was the Division of Statistics, created in 1863, one year after the USDA itself was created.<ref name="Seeds">Panel to Study the Research Program of the Economic Research Service, ''[http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=6320 Sowing Seeds of Change: Informing Public Policy in the Economic Research Service of USDA]'', Committee on National Statistics, Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education, [[National Research Council (United States)|National Research Council]] (John F. Gewek et al., eds. 1999).</ref> By 1902, a Division of Foreign Markets had been created, and the following year, that division was merged with the Division of Statistics to form the Bureau of Statistics.<ref name="Seeds"/> In 1914, the bureau was renamed the Bureau of Crop Estimates, and in 1921 this bureau merged with the Bureau of Markets to form the Bureau of Markets and Crop Estimates.<ref name="Seeds"/> This merger brought together "responsibility for the collection of farm-level crop and livestock data with that for major domestic and foreign commodity market transactions" in a single agency.<ref name="Seeds"/>

While the USDA's data collection activities were developing, the department was also developing expertise in [[agricultural economics]] research.<ref name="Seeds"/> In 1903, the Office of Farm Management was formed within the Bureau of Plant Industry.<ref name="Seeds"/> In 1915, this office was transferred to the Office of the Secretary to provide analytic support during World War I.  In 1919, the office was renamed in Office of Farm Management and Farm Economics. In 1920, the office became a separate USDA agency.<ref name="Seeds"/>

In 1922, the ''Bureau of Agricultural Economics'' (''BAE''), the ERS's immediate predecessor, was established by the merger of the Office of Farm Management and Farm Economics and the Bureau of Markets and Crop Estimates, bringing together responsibility for data collection and economic research/analysis in a single agency.<ref name="Seeds"/> This new agency brought together for the first time in data collection and economic analysis and research.<ref name="Seeds"/> The first leader of the BAE was the pioneering agricultural economist [[Henry Charles Taylor]], appointed by [[United States Secretary of Agriculture|Secretary of Agriculture]] [[Henry C. Wallace]].<ref name="Taylor">[http://www.ers.usda.gov/about-ers/ers-history/milestones-in-ers-history/henry-taylor.aspx Milestones in ERS History: Henry C. Taylor] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150710232941/http://www.ers.usda.gov/about-ers/ers-history/milestones-in-ers-history/henry-taylor.aspx |date=July 10, 2015 }}, Economic Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture.</ref> In its initial years the BAE recruited agricultural economists from the handful of [[Land-grant university|land-grant universities]] that offered the [[Doctor of Philosophy|Ph.D]] in agriculture, such as [[University of Wisconsin–Madison|Wisconsin]], [[University of Minnesota|Minnesota]], and [[Cornell University|Cornell]].<ref name="Seeds"/> In 1937, the [[U.S. Department of Agriculture Cotton Annex|USDA Cotton Annex]] in the [[Southwest Washington, D.C.|Southwest]] neighborhood of [[Washington, D.C.]] was built to contain offices and research facilities of the BAE.<ref>{{cite web |title=Historic Preservation Review Board (Historic Landmark Case No. 15-16) |url=http://planning.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/op/publication/attachments/Historic%20Landmark%20Nomination%20%20300%2012th%20Street%20SW%20%20USDA%20Cotton%20Annex%20Staff%20Report%20Case%2015%2016.pdf |website=DC Office of Planning |access-date=January 21, 2025 |date=July 23, 2015}}</ref>

The ERS was established by Secretary of Agriculture Memorandum 1446, supp. 1, of April 3, 1961.<ref name="Manual">''[https://books.google.com/books?id=JtcQ8UUH81QC&pg=PA555 United States Government Manual 2012]'', [[Office of the Federal Register]], [[National Archives and Records Administration]], p. 555.</ref> It was subsequently consolidated with other USDA units (including the Economic Development Service, established in 1969, and the Economic Management Support Center, established 1974) into the ''Economics, Statistics, and Cooperatives Service'' by Secretary's Memorandum 1927, effective December 23, 1977.<ref name="Manual"/>  The agency was redesignated as the ''Economic Research Service'' by secretarial order of October 1, 1981.<ref name="Manual"/>

Under the [[First presidency of Donald Trump|Trump administration]], the ERS and another USDA agency, the [[National Institute of Food and Agriculture]] were directed to move from the USDA's headquarters in Washington, D.C. to the [[Kansas City metropolitan area]]. Two-thirds of the USDA employees reassigned chose to quit rather than accept relocation.<ref name="Moon">Emily Moon, [https://psmag.com/social-justice/cut-relocate-eviscerate-moving-a-usda-research-agency-will-have-lasting-consequences-employees-say 'Cut, Relocate, Eviscerate': Moving a USDA Research Agency Will Have Lasting Consequences, Employees Say], ''Pacific Standard'' (July 18, 2019).</ref><ref name="Guarino">Ben Guarino, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2019/07/18/many-usda-workers-quit-research-agencies-move-kansas-city-brain-drain-we-all-feared/ Many USDA workers to quit as research agencies move to Kansas City: 'The brain drain we all feared'], ''Washington Post'' (July 18, 2019).</ref> In 2018, the office of Trump's [[U.S. Secretary of Agriculture|Agriculture Secretary]], [[Sonny Perdue]], also issued a directive to ERS and other research components of USDA, ordering them to include a disclaimer on peer-reviewed research in [[scientific journal]]s stating that findings and conclusions were "preliminary" and "should not be construed to represent any agency determination or policy."<ref name="GuarinoPreliminary">Ben Guarino, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2019/04/19/usda-orders-scientists-say-published-research-is-preliminary/ USDA orders scientists to say published research is 'preliminary'], ''Washington Post'' (April 19, 2019).</ref><ref name="McCrimmon">{{Cite web |last=McCrimmon |first=Ryan |date=2019-05-07 |title=Economists flee Agriculture Dept. after feeling punished under Trump |url=https://www.politico.com/story/2019/05/07/agriculture-economists-leave-trump-1307146 |access-date=2025-03-03 |website=POLITICO |language=en}}</ref> Susan Offutt, the ERS administrator under the [[Clinton administration|Clinton]] and [[George W. Bush administration]]s, said that the requirement was contrary to the USDA's longstanding policy that permitted and encouraged federal scientists to publish work in journals,<ref name="GuarinoPreliminary"/> and the "disclaimer" mandate was strongly criticized by USDA employees, science advocates, and scientific journal editors.<ref name="Guarino2019">Ben Guarino, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2019/05/10/after-outcry-usda-will-no-longer-require-scientists-label-research-preliminary/ After outcry, USDA will no longer require scientists to label research 'preliminary'], ''Washington Post'' (May 10, 2019).</ref> In May 2019, following an outcry, the USDA rescinded the directive.<ref name="Guarino2019"/>

Current and former employees of the ERS were strongly critical of the relocation to Kansas City and other Trump administration policies, and the exodus of scientific and economic talent and disruption to federal research (especially on [[climate change]] and [[food security]]) that they had caused.<ref name="Moon"/><ref name="Guarino"/><ref name="Crampton">Liz Crampton, [https://www.politico.com/story/2019/06/25/department-agriculture-union-relocation-1554201 ERS union predicts mass exodus ahead of relocation], ''Politico'' (June 25, 2019).</ref><ref name="McCrimmon"/><ref>"''The Department of Agriculture must restore the viability of the Economic Research Service.''" American Economic Association. Recommendation 9. [https://www.aeaweb.org/content/file?id=13507 Necessary Improvement in the U.S. Statistical Infrastructure: A Report to Inform the Biden-Harris Transition]. November 2020</ref> The move to Kansas City area resulted in an attrition rate particularly high in the Resource and Rural Economics Division (90%) and in the Food Economics Division (up to 89%).<ref name="Crampton"/> ERS economists said that the Trump administration's moves were retaliation against the agency for publishing research reports detailing the negative economic effects of Trump's policies, including [[First Trump tariffs|the first tariffs]] and [[Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017|Republican tax legislation]], on U.S. agriculture.<ref name="McCrimmon"/>

During the Biden administration, ERS headquarters moved back to Washington, DC, while the Kansas City office was retained.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Ortega |first1=Bob |last2=Lah |first2=Kyung |last3=Gordon |first3=Allison |last4=Black |first4=Nelli |date=2024-04-27 |title=What Trump's war on the 'Deep State' could mean: 'An army of suck-ups' |url=https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/27/politics/trump-federal-workers-2nd-term-invs/index.html |access-date=2025-01-17 |website=CNN |language=en}}</ref>