The Integrity of Estimates

The public must be able to depend on the timeliness and reliability of the data and the integrity of the organization issuing it. NASS strives to preserve a relationship of mutual respect and trust with those who supply and those who use its information. It provides meaningful, credible, and impartial statistics that can be relied upon in evaluating programs and policies; it is therefore essential that the Agency be free of political influence and policy advocacy.

In addition, NASS must fulfill its responsibility to individual respondents by taking precautions to ensure that their survey answers remain confidential, by informing them of the ways in which the data will be used, and by adhering to those specified uses. Finally, the Agency must release its information in as public a manner as possible, so that all interested parties have equal access to the data.

Throughout the year, farmers, business people, and officials base decisions involving billions of dollars on the agricultural estimates of NASS. Their willingness to do so reveals the extent to which both the private and public sectors have come to depend on NASS information.

The laws, regulations, and procedures governing the operation of NASS's Agricultural Statistics Board, which issues the reports, clearly reflect this overriding need for integrity, reliability, and impartiality. The 5 titles and 17 sections of the United States Code specifically addressed to crop and livestock estimates decree the security procedures, the confidentiality of reported data, and the exact timing of the release of major reports.

Federal statutes and regulations have long prohibited employees from discussing data reported by individuals. Penalties can be imposed on any employee who discloses any information before the release of a report, or who trades on commodity markets: an employee found guilty of such an offense is subject to a $10,000 fine or 10 years in prison, or both. Similarly, an employee who deliberately issues false information faces a $5,000 fine or 5 years in prison, or both.

The Food Security Act of 1985 bolstered USDA's ability to protect the confidentiality of information provided by producers, agribusinesses, and others participating in the surveys; it states that data can be used only for statistical purposes and must be converted into statistical or aggregate form before being made public. The NASS survey forms are destroyed. Even copies of the forms kept by survey participants are immune from mandatory disclosure, including legal process.

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