This paper can only sketch some of the important research challenges in Agricultural Economics and the development of analytical approaches to the solution of these problems. The four volume Survey of Agricultural Economics Literature covers in detail the period from 1940 to 1980. The approach here is to distill from the Journal some of the major problems facing agriculture and rural America, and to present illustrations of the research response that led to the development of our present analytical and quantitative methods. Historically, agricultural economists have been problem—oriented. Contributions to theory and quantitative methods have come through attempts to get analytical or quantitative answers to important problems facing the economy. I trust this emphasis will continue, although one can sense the growing use of complicated theoretical constructs that cannot as yet be quantified. One can see the attraction of such efforts when faced with the grim realities of modeling with poor data sets!