Seth Wechsler is a Cross-Commodity Analyst for specialty crops in the Crops Branch of the Market and Trade Economics Division at USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS).

In 2014, Seth joined the USDA’s Economic Research Service as a Research Economist focused on pest management and the use of agricultural biotechnology. Since then, he has served in the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and the USDA’s Office of the Chief Economist. Currently, his work explores how exogenous shocks to markets for high-value specialty crops affect markets and trade.

Seth received his B.A. and M.A. degrees in Economics from Duke University. He received and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Agricultural and Resource Economics from the University of Maryland.

Wechsler, Seth and David Smith, “Has Resistance Taken Root in U.S. Corn Fields? Demand for Insect Control,” American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 100:4 (2018)

Wechsler, Seth, Jonathan McFadden, and David Smith, “What do farmers' weed control decisions imply about glyphosate resistance? Evidence from surveys of US corn fields,” Pest Management Science, 74:5 (2017)

Hitaj, Claudia, David Smith, Aimee Code, Seth Wechsler, Paul D. Esker, and Margaret R. Douglas, “Sowing Uncertainty: What We Do and Don’t Know About the Planting of Pesticide-Treated Seed,” BioScience 70:5 (2020)

Fernandez-Cornejo, Jorge, Craig Osteen, Seth Wechsler, and Lorraine Mitchel, “Genetically Engineered Crops in the United States,” Economic Research Report No. 162, Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture (2014)

Fernandez-Cornejo, Jorge, Richard Nehring, Craig Osteen, Seth Wechsler, Andrew Martin, and Alex Vialou, “Pesticide Use in U.S. Agriculture: 21 Selected Crops, 1960-2008,” Economic Information Bulletin No. 124, Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture (2014)