New research directions, the future of NIFA and ERS top discussion points

Members of the Council on Food, Agricultural and Resource Economics paid visits to 17 U.S. representatives, including Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-Ga.) and Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-Mo.), and more than three dozen Senate offices in Washington as part of C-FARE’s Congressional Visits Day.

The rounds inside the Russell, Dirksen and Hart Senate office buildings and the Longworth and Rayburn House office buildings made up a significant part of a two-day trip to the nation’s capital for agricultural economists representing about 20 land-grant universities from Vermont to Arizona, Florida to Wyoming.

These university professors and department heads used the opportunity to discuss new research directions, current challenges facing farm budgets and operations, and the future of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture and Economic Research Service offices.

C-FARE’s mission is to advance the presence of agricultural and applied economists in research forums and federal policymaking, and to raise the level of discussion around the economics of food production, distribution and consumption; international trade of U.S. commodities; macroeconomic trends and human and environmental resources, and attendant legal and business issues.