American Farm Bureau Federation’s USDA-NASS Working Group Report
By John Newton Ph.D and Shelby Myers
American Farm Bureau Federation
To help rebuild farmers’ trust in USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, a farmer-led working group put together by the American Farm Bureau has developed a series of recommendations for the agency. The recommendations focus on technology improvements and better communication from the agency, but the validity of the agency’s reports hinges on farmers’ full participation in NASS’ data collection efforts. The more robust the data, the more reliable the reports.