analysis about food, farms, natural resources, and rural community issues" and includes data and charts on various economic indications, including livestock cash receipts, farm household income, agricultural imports and exports, and food spending. Leadership, organization, and staff The ERS is led by an administrator, historically a career Senior Executive Service appointee that (along with NASS) reported to the Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics. However, in 2019, the Trump administration, under Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, moved to place ERS under the direct oversight of a political appointee, reporting to the chief economist under the Office of the Secretary. This restructuring prompted criticism that the ERS's historically independent and autonomous data-collection mission would be compromised by political interference. The ERS is organized into the Office of the Administrator and four divisions: The Food Economics Division; the Information Services Division; the Market and Trade Economics Division; and the Resource and Rural Economics Division. Each division is led by a director. ERS had about 510 employees in 1998, 430 employees in 2009, and 250 employees in 2019. In 2019, in the wake of a relocation order, ERS employees voted overwhelmingly to unionize under the American Federation of Government Employees, forming their own bargaining unit. Administrators The following individuals served as the administrators of the ERS from 1961 to the present: 1961–1965: Nathan M. Koffsky 1965–1972: Melvin L. Upchurch 1972–1977: Quentin M. West 1977–1981: Kenneth R. Farrell (ESCS Administrator); J.B. Penn (Associate Administrator for Economics) 1982–1993: John E. Lee 1993–1996: Acting administrators 1996–2006: Susan Offutt 2007–2011: Kitty Smith 2011–2018: Mary Bohman 2018–2020: Acting administrators 2020-Present: Spiro Stefanou See also Agricultural extension Agricultural Research Service Economics of global warming Economics of climate change mitigation Henry Cantwell Wallace World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates Notes External links Economic Research Service in the Federal Register United States Department of Agriculture agencies National statistical services Statistical organizations in the United States Federal Statistical System of the United States