Number: RL33327
Title: Agricultural Research, Education, and Extension: Issues and Background
Authors: Jean M. Rawson, Resources, Science, and Industry Division 
Abstract: The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is responsible for conducting agricultural research at the federal level, and for providing partial support for cooperative research, extension, and post-secondary agricultural education programs in the states. This mission area of USDA is called Research, Extension, and Economics (REE). In addition to research in the hard sciences, it also includes agricultural economics research, and data collection and statistical analysis. The USDA agencies responsible for these functions are (1) the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), the department's in-house science agency, which also has research centers and other locations across the United States; (2) the Economic Research Service (ERS), an entirely Washington, D.C.-based social science agency; (3) the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), a data-gathering agency headquartered at USDA, with offices in most states and U.S. territories; and (4) the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES), which is headquartered at USDA and administers a variety of grant programs, as well as the federal funds that pass through to the state partners.
Pages: 13
Date: March 20, 2006