National Agricultural Statistics Service

National Agricultural Statistics Service
Agency overview
Formed	1863
Jurisdiction	Federal government of the United States
Headquarters	Washington, D.C., U.S.
Agency executive	Hubert Hamer, Administrator;
Website	http://www.nass.usda.gov/

The National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) is the statistical branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System. NASS has 12 regional offices throughout the United States and Puerto Rico and a headquarters unit in Washington, D.C.. NASS conducts hundreds of surveys and issues nearly 500 national reports each year on issues including agricultural production, economics, demographics and the environment. NASS also conducts the United States Census of Agriculture every five years.

Compiling the crop report in 1917

History

During the Civil War, USDA collected and distributed crop and livestock statistics to help farmers assess the value of the goods they produced. At that time, commodity buyers usually had more current and detailed market information than did farmers, a circumstance that often prevented farmers from getting a fair price for their goods. Producers in today's marketplace would be similarly handicapped were it not for the information provided by NASS.

The creation of USDA's Crop Reporting Board in 1905 (now called the Agricultural Statistics Board) was another landmark in the development of a nationwide statistical service for agriculture. A USDA reorganization in 1961 led to the creation of the Statistical Reporting Service, known today as National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS).[1]

The 1997 Appropriations Act [2] shifted the responsibility of conducting the Census of Agriculture from U.S. Census Bureau to USDA. Since then the census has been conducted every five years by NASS. Results from the 2012 Census of Agriculture were released on May 2, 2014.[3]

Surveys and reports

The primary sources of information for NASS reports are farmers, ranchers, livestock feeders, slaughterhouse managers, grain elevator operators and other agribusinesses. NASS relies on these survey respondents to voluntarily supply data for most reports.

NASS surveys are conducted in a variety of ways, including mail surveys, telephone interviews, online response, face-to-face interviews and field observations. Once the information is gathered and interpreted, NASS issues estimates and forecasts for crops and livestock and publishes reports on a variety of topics including production and supplies of food and fiber, prices paid and received by farmers, farm labor and wages, farm income and finances, and agricultural chemical use. NASS's field offices publish local data about many of the same topics.

Importance of NASS data

An NASS statistician explains data at a 2017 briefing.

Producers, farm organizations, agribusinesses, lawmakers and government agencies all rely on the information produced by NASS. For instance:

Statistical information on acreage, production, stocks, prices and value is essential for the smooth operation of federal farm programs.
Agricultural data are indispensable for planning and administering related federal and state programs in such areas as consumer protection, conservation and environmental quality, trade, education and recreation.
NASS data helps to ensure an orderly flow of goods and services among agriculture's producing, processing and marketing sectors.
Reliable, timely and detailed crop and livestock statistics help to maintain a stable economic climate and minimize the uncertainties and risks associated with the production, marketing and distribution of commodities.
Farmers and ranchers rely on NASS reports in making various production and marketing decisions, such as how much grain to plant, how much livestock to raise and when to buy or sell agricultural commodities.
NASS estimates and forecasts are used by the transportation sector, warehouse and storage companies, banks and other lending institutions, commodity traders and food processors.
The businesses that provide farmers with seeds, equipment, chemicals and other goods and services use the data when planning their marketing strategies.
Analysts transform the statistics into projections of coming trends, interpretations of the trends’ economic implications and evaluations of alternative courses of action for producers, agribusinesses and policymakers.
Crop reports relating to acreage, yields, and production.

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References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[1] ttp://www.nass.usda.gov

[2] ttp://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=browse_usc&docid=Cite:+7USC2204g

[3] ttp://www.agcensus.usda.gov/

Agencies under the United States Department of Agriculture
Headquarters: Jamie L. Whitten Building Sonny Perdue, Secretary of Agriculture Stephen Censky, Deputy Secretary of Agriculture
Under Secretary of Agriculture for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs	Foreign Agricultural Service United States Codex Office
Under Secretary of Agriculture for Natural Resources and Environment	Forest Service
Under Secretary of Agriculture for Rural Development	Rural Housing Service Rural Utilities Service Rural Business-Cooperative Service
Under Secretary of Agriculture for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services	Food and Nutrition Service (Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion)
Under Secretary of Agriculture for Food Safety	Food Safety and Inspection Service
Under Secretary of Agriculture for Research, Education, and Economics	Agricultural Research Service (National Agricultural Library) National Agricultural Statistics Service Economic Research Service National Institute of Food and Agriculture Office of the Chief Scientist
Under Secretary of Agriculture for Marketing and Regulatory Programs	Agricultural Marketing Service Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
Under Secretary of Agriculture for Farm Production and Conservation	Farm Service Agency (Commodity Credit Corporation) Risk Management Agency (Federal Crop Insurance Corporation) Natural Resources Conservation Service Farm Production and Conservation Business Center
Office of the Chief Financial Officer	National Finance Center
*Reports directly to the Secretary of Agriculture

United States government agencies involved in environmental science
Environmental Protection Agency Global Change Research Program National Aeronautics and Space Administration National Science Foundation Smithsonian Institution
Department of the Interior	Bureau of Indian Affairs Bureau of Land Management Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Bureau of Reclamation National Park Service United States Fish and Wildlife Service United States Geological Survey Office of the Assistant Secretary for Insular and International Affairs Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation, and Enforcement
Department of Commerce	National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Geodetic Survey Marine Fisheries Service Ocean Service Oceanic and Atmospheric Research Weather Service
Department of Energy	Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Office of Environmental Management Office of Science National Laboratories and Technology Centers
Department of Agriculture	Agricultural Research Service Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Farm Service Agency Food and Nutrition Service Foreign Agricultural Service Natural Resources Conservation Service (National Water and Climate Center) Rural Utilities Service Forest Service
Department of Homeland Security	Science and Technology Directorate United States Coast Guard
Department of Health and Human Services	Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
Department of Defense	Air Force Research Laboratory Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Joint Typhoon Warning Center Office of Naval Research Combat Capabilities Development Command

Federal Statistical System of the United States
Principal agencies	Census Bureau Bureau of Labor Statistics National Center for Education Statistics National Agricultural Statistics Service National Center for Health Statistics Energy Information Administration Bureau of Economic Analysis Economic Research Service Bureau of Justice Statistics National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (National Science Foundation) Statistics of Income Division (Internal Revenue Service) Bureau of Transportation Statistics Office of Research, Evaluation, and Statistics (Social Security Administration)
Other agencies	Economics and Statistics Administration Office of Immigration Statistics HUD USER
As defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, the principal agencies of the Federal Statistical System have statistical activities as their core mission and conduct much of the government’s statistical work.