Reaction to the National Agricultural Outlook Conference

Excerpts: The first National Agricultural Outlook Conference was held in the Department of Agriculture in 1923, about a year after the creation of the Bureau of Agricultural Economics, and is generally regarded as the beginning of a continuous outlook program within the Department. In 1924 the Outlook Conference was continued and the reception of the reports of these first two Conferences was so favorable it was decided to organize outlook work on a permanent basis. Since then Outlook Conferences have been held regularly and have become an official part of the planned program of the Department. In the past, the Extension Service of the USDA has surveyed State Extension staff to find out what they think about the Conference, and the planning committees have informally discussed the conference with participants and have held "debriefing sessions" after conferences. However, this study is the first formalized systematic review of the reactions of a wide spectrum of users of agricultural economic data. This survey is part of the overall Department policy of reviewing its services to find out how well they serve individual target groups. The findings from this survey will be considered by the Department in developing improvements and determining the future of the Conference.