U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, National Agricultural Statistical Service

The NORC data enclave houses the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS). According to USDA, ARMS is its “primary source of information on the financial condition, production practices, resource use, and economic well-being of America's farm households. ARMS data are essential to USDA, congressional, administration, and industry decision makers when weighing alternative policies and programs that touch the farm sector or affect farm families.”

ARMS is sponsored jointly by ERS and the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), and is the only nation-wide survey that provides a direct linkage between commodity production practices (including conservation) and the financial status of the farm and its operator's household. The data also provide insights on several facets of the agricultural sector, including its contribution to the national economy, the organization and performance of farms, the income and well-being of farm households, and the economics of production practices used across commodity enterprises. Information collected in the survey can be used to examine the effects of economic or policy events on farms and farm households.

USDA uses arms data to provide estimates on net farm income, which is later used for development of annual estimates of gross domestic product and personal income. As such, relevance of ARMS data for policy making is significant. The dataset also fulfills a congressional mandate which requires USDA to provide annual cost-of-production estimates for commodities covered under farm-support legislation. In addition, ARMS provides information on chemical use on field crops as a requirement under environmental and food safety legislation.

Additional information about how the survey is conducted can be found at http://www.ers.usda.gov/data/arms/GlobalDocumentation.htm

Enclave Manager

Shaswat Sapkota (sapkota-shaswat@norc.org)

Contacts:

Mitch Morehart (morehart@ers.usda.gov)
Bob Dubman (bdubman@ers.usda.gov)