At the National Association of Farm Broadcasters (NAFB) annual Washington Watch event in Washington, D.C., Farm Director KC Sheperd talked with the American Farm Bureau Federation’s Chief Economist, Roger Cryan, about the decision by USDA NASS to discontinue select 2024 data collection programs and reports.
As of April 2024, USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) has announced the canceling the July Cattle report and the discontinuation of the Cotton Objective Yield Survey, as well as all County Estimates for Crops and Livestock beginning with the 2024 production year. According to USDA, the decision to discontinue these surveys and reports was not made lightly but was necessary, given appropriate budget levels.
“All of those reports are important,” Cryan said. “We understand there have been some cuts. Some of those are a really important reports.”
Cryan said cutting the July Cattle Report, of all reports, seems incomprehensible.
“The other reports are focused on the end of the year as well, so we will have to see what happens and whether the Secretary finds some resources for this year, and Congress finds some resources for next year,” Cryan said. “NASS does important work. They work hard to do it efficiently. They do need some updates on their IT stuff, but we need this data.”
Regarding the 2022 Census of Agriculture that was recently released, Cryan said the piece that stuck out most to him was the number of farms lost over the past five years.
“That is one of the reasons it is so important for us to have a good Farm Bill, not just this year, but every five years,” Cryan said.
The Census of Agriculture is an incredibly rich source of data, Cryan said, and anyone who is trying to tell the story of agriculture in their state, county, or congressional district can find an amazing amount of detail broken down in the report.
“It is all extremely valuable information,” Cryan said.
