Research, Education, and Economics (REE)

The Research, Education, and Economics (REE) mission area includes the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), the National Agricultural Library (NAL), the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture.  ARS is USDA’s principal in-house research agency. ARS leads America towards a better future through agricultural research and information.  NAL ensures and enhances access to agricultural information for a better quality of life.  NASS serves the basic agricultural and rural data needs of the country by providing objective, important and accurate statistical information and services to farmers, ranchers, agribusinesses and public officials. This data is vital to monitoring the ever-changing agricultural sector and carrying out farm policy.  Lastly, NIFA’s mission is to invest in and advance agricultural research, education, and extension to solve societal challenges. NIFA’s investments in transformative science directly support the long-term prosperity and global preeminence of U.S. agriculture. The USDA has realigned some of its FOIA functions by creating a stand-alone office titled “Office of Information Affairs” (OIA) under the Office of the General Counsel (OGC).  As part of the realignment, the OGC-OIA has assumed the FOIA functions for all USDA staff offices and certain mission areas.  FOIA requests submitted to REE will be processed by the OGC-OIA.   FOIA Reference Guide FOIA Regulations