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Farm Bureau recommends changes to NASS reports

 

The American Farm Bureau Federation on Thursday issued a report recommending changes in the Agriculture Department’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) survey collection and data reporting accuracy and farmer confidence.

A USDA-NASS Working Group, comprising 10 farmer members, spent more than four months evaluating the process and methodologies USDA-NASS uses to put farmer survey data into monthly reports.

“While NASS may have a gold standard reputation for agriculture statistics globally, U.S. farmers’ confidence in their reports has unfortunately declined,” said AFBF President Zippy Duvall.



“Large changes, especially the last two years due to adverse weather events, in estimates of planted area, crop yields and inventory levels have caused wild swings in markets and left farmers questioning the agency’s ability to respond quickly to rapidly changing conditions on the ground.

“We hope the work done by this group will provide a framework for USDA to make timelier adjustments to these key reports and restore trust in the data we’ve relied upon for so long. NASS has been responsive to feedback in the past and we are committed to working with the agency to achieve these new goals.”



Farm Bureau’s Market Intel service also published a report on the working group’s main recommendations.

–The Hagstrom Report


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