Producers, consumers, and other businesses along the food and agricultural supply chain face complex challenges as they grapple with an ever-changing economic environment. ACE is the national leader in commodity price analysis and has the nation’s largest concentration of faculty engaged in analysis, research, and teaching on grain markets. Faculty and students have made significant and lasting contributions to scholarship and public policy on topics related to market price behavior, food demand, risk management, conservation and sustainability, farm management, financial markets, innovation and technology adoption, and agricultural policy.

Programs

farmdoc

farmdoc is the premier online source of economic analysis and market information for commercial producers in the U.S. Corn Belt.

TIAA Center for Farmland Research

The TIAA Center for Farmland Research will enhance the university’s research and educational initiatives for its students and the agricultural community, including investors, farmers, researchers, and businesses.

Office for Futures and Options Research

The Office for Futures and Options Research (OFOR) is a leading research institution dedicated to promoting and enhancing the scholarly research and learning of modern agricultural commodity futures and options markets, as well as agricultural commodity prices more generally. Our innovative research is aimed at shaping existing practices and knowledge around modern agricultural commodity markets.

Gardner Agriculture Policy Program

The Gardner Agriculture Policy Program coordinates and prioritizes analytical and outreach efforts for farm, conservation and international trade policies, elevating the University of Illinois’ voice in the national debate.  

Policy Design Lab

The Policy Design Lab is a collaboration with ACES Office of Research, iSEE, and NCSA, that develops unique capabilities to translate, apply, and integrate research from multiple disciplines to the evaluation of existing federal policy and to the development of federal policy concepts or ideas, beginning with agricultural conservation, sustainability, and climate change through the Farm Bill Mapping Initiative.

Center for the Economics of Sustainability

 The Center for the Economics of Sustainability is a set of economists that study tradeoffs, human behavior, and the allocation of scarce resources for more sustainable food systems, reliable energy and water systems, healthy environments, and thriving communities. Their research helps inform environmental policy and resource management decisions in Illinois and around the world.