The Department of Development Policy and Marketing has its roots in the Department of Agrarian Policy headed by prof. Zdzisław Ludkiewicz, established in 1918, which was one of three economic and agricultural departments in the interwar period as part of the Faculty of Agriculture of the Warsaw University of Life Sciences – SGGW. The Institute’s research interests focused mainly on the issues of shaping the agricultural system, supporting, organizing and protecting agricultural production, and regulating relations in this field.

At the beginning of the 1950s, the Department of Agrarian Policy was one of the three departments constituting the beginning of the Faculty of Agricultural Economics. The Department of Agrarian Policy (in the years 1970-1991 the Institute of Agricultural Economics and Agrarian Policy) was headed in turn by: prof. Stefan Ignar, prof. dr hab. Tadeusz Rychlik, prof. dr hab. Bolesław Strużek, prof. dr hab. Julian Bogacz, prof. dr hab. Zbigniew Adamowski, prof. dr hab. Mieczysław Adamowicz and prof. dr hab. Marian Podstawka. From October 1, 2013, the head of the Department is dr hab. Joanna Szwacka-Mokrzycka – professor SGGW.

The Department of Development Policy and Marketing adopted its current name on October 1, 2019, and its employees continue through their scientific and teaching activities the glorious tradition of their predecessors. In recent years, the name of the department has changed – in the years 1991–2009 it was: Department of Agrarian Policy and Marketing, in the years 2010–2016 the Department of European Policy, Public Finance and Marketing, while in the years 2017–2019 – the Department of European Policy and Marketing. The name changes were associated with changes in the organizational structure of the Faculty and WULS-SGGW, including the appointment of the new Department of Finance at the Faculty of Economic Sciences, which included employees of the existing Division of Law and Finance. Currently, the Department consists of the two following divisions: Division of Regional and European Studies and Division of Marketing and Market Analyses.