ERS Work Environment

Working at ERS, you can:

  • Build your research career in a professional, diverse, and team-oriented work environment
  • Explore diverse research areas such as:
    • Global agricultural markets
    • Trade negotiations and economic impacts
    • Biotechnology and agriculture
    • Agricultural and environmental policy
    • Bioenergy development and its impact
    • Agriculture sector structure, performance, and welfare
    • Diet, health and food safety
    • Food assistance programs
    • Rural development policy

ERS researchers publish their work in a number of research and outlook reports, our award-winning Amber Waves magazine, as well as in a number of professional journals, including:

  • American Journal of Agricultural Economics
  • Review of Economics and Statistics
  • Review of Agricultural Economics
  • Journal of Economic Perspectives
  • Applied Economics
  • Food Policy
  • Land Economics
  • Journal of Development Economics
  • Journal of Environmental Economics and Management

ERS actively participates in the USDA primary data collection program on farm businesses and households, resources and environmental management, and other special topics.

ERS researchers:

  • Can help determine the questions included in surveys conducted by the USDA
  • Have timely, special access to the resulting data for analysis

Staff

ERS research staff includes economists and social scientists. They span a wide range of expertise, including general equilibrium modeling, trade analysis, environmental valuation, production economics and technology, and consumer demand analysis.

ERS Information Services staff is comprised of information technology and communication specialists who support the economic research and analysis mission of ERS.

Data, Computer, and Research Support

ERS provides state-of-the-art information and communications technology for research applications, networking, and product dissemination, including:

  • Personal workstations with high-speed networking and communications capability and easy access to a wide range of econometric, statistical, and other analytic software
  • A GIS Laboratory for data analyses and descriptive presentations from primary data sources and for other research applications
  • Access to online economic and scientific journals and search engines, including the USDA Economics and Statistics System
  • Professional editing, design, and development of products for publication or web dissemination