Zahniser, Steven

Steven Zahniser is an agricultural economist with the United States Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service (ERS). He conducted research for the Asia and Western Hemisphere Branch, and the Market and Trade Economics Division. Zahniser completed in Ph.D. in economics at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

ERS provides economic data, analysis and research in support of USDA national and international policy and decision-making. The ERS organization has its roots in the Bureau of Agricultural Economics (BAE), a federal research organization established in 1922 aimed at helping farmers solve their price and income problems. In 1953, BAE divided into three organizations, including the Foreign Agriculture Service (FAS), Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS).

When it was established, the FAS worked primarily to develop foreign markets for U.S. agricultural commodities, and employed foreign attachés based at U.S. embassies throughout Latin America. Initially, these attachés were affiliated with the Department of State, but following the passage of H.R. 8033 in 1954, they were transferred to the FAS. The attachés provided information and statistical findings about commodities markets in Latin America. The USDA added the Economic Research Service in 1961. ERS, AMS, FAS and ARS remain active today.