Objecfives of Agricultural Economics

A 1970 mail survey of U. S. and Canadian agricultural economics departments attempted to identify new approaches to graduate education. Areas explored included program objectives, requirements, and procedures. Some evolutionary changes in specific requirements and pro-cedures were identified, although few revolutionary changes in orientation were discovered. sa part of the departmental graduate re-view process at the University of Mas-sachusetts, a mail survey was conducted of other agricultural economics departments in the U. S. and Canada to solicit information about new insights and innovative approaches to graduate ducation in the field. This article presents ome results of the survey. The questionnaire was mailed in the faU of 1970 to the heads of chairmen of 58 U. S. and Canadian academic departments with graduate programs in either agricultural economics of closely related fields. Usable returns were re-ceived from 48 departments. Seventeen offered only the Master's degree, and 31 offered both the Master's and Ph.D. degrees. Questionnaires were completed by department heads of depart