The Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology provides education, research and Extension programs, with particular focus in agribusiness, marketing, trade policy, production agriculture, natural resources and community development.

AERS offers an undergraduate degree in agricultural economics with an emphasis in agribusiness or applied economics, as well as two minors designed to complement a variety of majors. The new agricultural commodity risk management certificate allows students to learn how to manage the risk involved in commodity marketing and trading throughout the agricultural supply chain to maximize profits. This program is the only individually funded commodity trading and hedging program in the nation and ACRM certified students are achieving higher than market-rate entry salaries.

The range of expertise among AERS faculty provides students with a strong, diverse experience. Specialty areas include productions economics, price forecasting, crop insurance, international trade, applied risk analysis, trade and marketing, macroeconomics, community-based decision-making, qualitative research methods, ripple effects mapping, natural resource policy, rural community development, supply chain management, behavioral economics, resource management, farm and agribusiness management, and commodity risk management.

AERS also offers a master’s degree in applied economics, Idaho’s only graduate degree program in economics. The program is offered cooperatively with Washington State University, with courses taught by faculty from both universities. Students conduct applied research on a variety of projects to develop skills for real-world applications in the future.

Faculty in AERS support Idaho’s producers through a variety of Extension programs, including webinars, in-person classes and publications. The Idaho AgBiz website provides crop and livestock budgets, regional market information and decision aids.