Agricultural & Applied Economics Association

Agricultural & Applied Economics Association (AAEA) is a non-profit professional organization based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, that has been registered to receive federal awards since June 2001. The organization serves as a professional association dedicated to advancing agricultural and applied economics through research, professional development, and educational initiatives. AAEA provides the federal government with services related to professional conference sponsorship, student research competitions, early-career economist mentorship, and diversity initiatives within the agricultural economics field.

AAEA's federal contract work has been limited, with a single documented purchase order from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Office of the Chief Economist (OCE) awarded on May 20, 2021. This $7,500 firm-fixed-price contract, which performed through September 30, 2021, provided sponsorship funding for an AAEA post-conference workshop and supported the organization in obtaining FAR 52.204-24 certification required for federal contracting. No set-aside designations were applied to this award, and the contract represented a straightforward procurement arrangement between USDA-OCE and the non-profit association.

AAEA's federal grant portfolio is more substantial and reflects the organization's core mission of supporting agricultural economics research and professional development. The organization has received four prime federal grant awards from multiple USDA agencies. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) awarded two cooperative agreements to AAEA: one for a research competition challenging graduate students to address real-world questions facing small and mid-sized farmers using USDA's Local Food Data Warehouse and public data sources, with presentations and judging occurring at the annual AAEA conference (award date September 30, 2025; completion date September 30, 2027), and another for recruiting diverse participants from 1890 Land Grant Universities, 1994 Land Grant Universities, and Hispanic-Serving Institutions to establish student teams for a Local Food Economics Data Visualization Challenge (award date April 15, 2024; completion date April 14, 2025). Additionally, the USDA Institute of Food Production and Sustainability awarded AAEA a project grant in April 2024 to plan and execute a three-day workshop for early-career agricultural and applied economists held at UC Davis in December 2024, designed to support mentorship, professional development, and diversity within the field (completion date April 14, 2025). The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service awarded AAEA a project grant on September 29, 2022, focused on "Developing Diversity in the Field of Agricultural Economics," with a completion date of September 30, 2026. These grants collectively demonstrate AAEA's role as an intermediary organization supporting graduate student research, early-career economist development, and efforts to increase diversity and inclusion within agricultural economics.