Emmett Price was born in Natural Bridge, Virginia, December 2, 1874. He attended Hampden-Sydney College from 1890 to 1894, as well as George Washington University in Washington, D. C. He edited a newspaper in Blacksburg for five years, and worked for another paper in Washington, D. C. for six years. In 1916, he became associate extension editor at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, where he also taught agricultural journalism part-time.
He was 70 when he died in August 1944, following a long illness. On Price's death, Reuben Brigham said, "If my membership in AAACE had brought me only the knowledge and friendship of Emmett Price, I would still be in his debt ..."