Welcome to USDA’s
National Agricultural Statistics Service

Fact Finders for Agriculture

American agriculture is continually counted, measured, priced, analyzed, and reported to provide the facts needed by people working throughout this vast industry. The USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service’s (NASS) mission is to provide timely, accurate, and useful statistics in service to U.S. agriculture. The abundance of information produced has earned for NASS employees the title, “The Fact Finders of Agriculture.”

Participating in the factfinding process are thousands of producers and agribusinesses that are the source of NASS reports. This widespread voluntary participation in surveys, supplemented by crop observations and measurements, makes NASS a statistically sound, reliable, and frequently quoted source of agricultural data.

The agency was originally started in 1863 for the purpose of providing general production information to those interested in agriculture, chiefly on an annual basis. Today, NASS issues about 425 statistical reports from its Headquarters each year. Its State statistical offices issue some 9,000 reports and news releases annually, highlighting or expanding on information in the national reports, and the agency conducts and releases the Census of Agriculture every 5 years.

The reports cover virtually every facet of U.S. agriculture, including:

• Production and supplies of food and fiber
• Prices received and paid by farmers
• Farm labor and wages
• Farm income and finances
• Chemical use
• Demographic data

One can look back over the early history of agriculture and learn that without the regular updating of crop and livestock statistics, the usual consequences were that producers did not adequately share in the profits, especially during times of production shortages. NASS’s services have expanded over time to prevent reoccurrences when there lacked sufficient information for an orderly flow of goods and services among agriculture’s production, processing, and marketing sectors.

When agricultural statistics make the media’s headlines, the casual observer may not take note of the agency behind the scenes. The focus is usually on the latest official statistics that help to minimize the uncertainties and risks associated with the production and marketing of commodities. NASS reports are often used directly and indirectly by farmers, producer organizations, agribusinesses, researchers, policymakers, and government agencies. While the link between NASS’s services and the benefits may not always be well connected, NASS’s responsibilities will continue to evolve to meet the needs of agriculture and the Nation