The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) says it will spend several weeks gathering information about farm economics and production practices from farmers and ranchers across Indiana, as the agency conducts the third and final phase of the 2023 Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS) beginning in January 2024. The survey will be a joint effort between NASS and USDA’s Economic Research Service.
The USDA says the information that Indiana’s farmers provide through the survey will influence national and state policy-making decisions.
According to the USDA, NASS will reach out to more than 40,000 producers nationwide, including over 1,600 in Indiana, between January and April. The survey asks producers to provide in-depth information about their operating revenues, production costs, and household characteristics.
The 2023 ARMS survey in Indiana includes a special version of the questionnaire focused on farm costs and returns for soybean producers. The survey also includes questions on conservation practices, farm and household finances, and off-farm employment.
In January, interviewers will begin reaching out to those farmers who have not yet responded by mail or on-line.
Upon completion of the survey, USDA says the ARMS data will be used to calculate the farm sector portion of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The survey also collects detailed information on production practices, costs, and returns for 13 principal commodities on a rotating basis.
In addition to producing accurate information, NASS has strong safeguards in place to protect the confidentiality of all farmers who respond to its surveys. The agency will only publish data in an aggregate form, ensuring the confidentiality of all responses and that no individual respondent or operation can be identified.
The expense data gathered in ARMS will be published in the annual Farm Production Expenditures report on July 26, 2024. That report and others are available at nass.usda.gov/Publications. More reports based on ARMS data and more information about ARMS are available at ers.usda.gov/arms.
Source: USDA
