Historical Note

The Western Agricultural Economics Research Council (WAERC) was organized in 1947 under a memorandum of agreement between the agricultural experiment stations of the eleven western states and the Bureau of Agricultural Economics of the United States Department of Agriculture. The general purpose of the Council was to facilitate, strengthen, and integrate "research relationships in the field of agricultural economics, with particular reference to those economic and marketing problems of special concern to the western states."

During the early years, the council concentrated its efforts on evaluating research projects and making recommendations for funding of regional projects. In the late 1970s or early 1980s several changes occurred: The name was changed to the Western Agricultural Economics Council (WAERC). The Council ceased to be sanctioned and supported by the Western Directors of Experiment Stations, but department chairs met under their own auspices. The Council addressed questions of research, teaching, and extension in agricultural economics as well as support for agricultural economics work and overall departmental organization and management.