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Economic Research Service

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service tracks trends and emerging issues in agriculture, food, the environment, and rural America, conducting economic research to inform and enhance public and private decision making. ERS research is used by White House and USDA policy officials; the U.S. Congress; program administrators/managers; other Federal agencies; State and local government officials; and organizations, including farm and industry groups. ERS publishes its research and analysis in economic research reports, articles in the Amber Waves magazine, and data visualizations and data products throughout the year. ERS's suite of data products encompasses estimates, forecasts, and economic and statistical indicators.

In addition, the ERS commodity outlook program delivers timely, independent, and objective information about agricultural markets and provides projections of U.S. and world agricultural commodity production, consumption, and trade. These outlook reports and data are among the most widely accessed ERS products. For all upcoming ERS releases, see our calendar of releases.

Closely watched products include: forecasts of farm business and household income, commodity cost of production, outlook reports covering major crops and livestock products, annual 10-year projections for the farm sector, forecasts of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for food, estimates of U.S. and international agricultural productivity, rural county typologies, state fact sheets, annual report on food security of U.S. households, Food Access Research Atlas, Food Environment Atlas, and Cost Estimates of Foodborne Illnesses.

The webinar series, ERS Insights, provides a forum for ERS experts to interact with the public and provide in-depth information on a research topic. ERS economists often publish articles in professional journals and present papers to academic colleagues at conferences and meetings.

The Economic Research Service classifies its research into Topics, Data Products, and Publications. These classifications are further divided into Animal Products, Crops, Farm Bill, Farm Economy, Farm Practices & Management, Food & Nutrition Assistance, Food Choices & Health, Food Markets & Prices, Food Safety, International Markets & U.S. Trade, Natural Resources & Environment, and Rural Economy & Population (the rows in the grid below). The columns in the grid are the Topics, Data Products, and Publications, groupings for each of those classifications.

The Animal Products sub-topics are:

On the upper right there are links to Reports (click 'see all'), Amber Wave articles (click 'see all'), Data (click 'see all'), and related topics.

The Data Products entry for Animal Products is (scroll down) a results list for a search of the Data Products database for 'Animal Products'. The sub-topics (right side drop-down) are:

Animal Policy & Regulatory Issues
Cattle & Beef
Dairy
Hogs & Pork
Poultry & Eggs
and Sheep, Lamb & Mutton.

The Publications entry for Animal Products is (scroll down) a results list for a search of the Publications database for 'Animal Products'. The results can be further divided by sub-topic, publication type, and author.

The Crops sub-topics are:

On the upper right there are links to Reports (click ‘see all’), Amber Wave articles (click ‘see all’), Data (Agricultural Baseline Database, Commodity Costs and Returns, and Feed Grains Database), and related Topics.

The Agricultural Baseline Database provides access to the annual USDA Agricultural Projections report and corresponding data. The agricultural projections indicate the 10-year supply, demand, and trade for major agricultural commodities. The database covers projections for major U.S. field crops (corn, sorghum, barley, oats, wheat, rice, soybeans, and upland cotton), and livestock (beef, pork, poultry and eggs, and dairy) commodities.

Commodity Costs and Returns Estimations of annual production costs and returns, and published accounts for major field crop and livestock enterprises since 1975. Cost and return estimates for major production regions for corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton, grain sorghum, rice, peanuts, oats, barley, milk, hogs, and cow-calf.

Feed Grains Database The Feed Grains Database contains statistics on four feed grains (corn, grain sorghum, barley, and oats), foreign coarse grains (feed grains plus rye, millet, and mixed grains), hay, and related items.

The Publications entry for Crops is (scroll down) a results list for a search of the Publications database for 'Crops'. The results can be further divided by sub-topic, publication type, and author.

2023 Farm Bill
ERS research and analysis related to the 2023 Farm Bill.

2018 Farm Bill
The Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (2018 Farm Act), was signed on December 20, 2018, and continues through 2023, although some provisions extend beyond 2023. This section provides highlights and summaries of important programs and provisions, as well as some economic implications of the legislation.

2014 Farm Bill
The Agricultural Act of 2014 (2014 Farm Act), was signed on February 7, 2014. This section presents highlights and some economic implications of the programs and provisions.

No Farm Bill-related Data Products are listed, but there is a lot of information about a lot of related subjects in the Data Products database.

The Publications entry for 'Farm Bill' is (scroll down) a short results list for a search of the Publications database for 'Farm Bill'. The results can be further divided by sub-topic, publication type, and author.

The Farm Economy sub-topics are: