Agricultural Economics Agriculturaleconomics arose in the late 19th century, combined
the theory of the firm with marketing and organization theory, and developed
throughout the 20th century largely as an empirical branch of general economics. The discipline was closely linked to
empirical applications of mathematical statistics and made early and significant
contributions to econometric methods. From the 1960s, as agricultural sectors in the OECD countries
contracted, agricultural economists were drawn
to the development problems of poor countries, to the trade and macroeconomic
policy implications of agriculture in richer countries, and to a variety of
issues in production, consumption, environmental and resource economics. [Source: New Palgrave Dictionary Online]