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ERS and NASS highlight importance of research in agriculture
USDA’s Economic Research Service and National Agricultural Statistics Service are highlighting the importance of data to agriculture.
ERS Administrator Spiro Stefanou says the agency provides objective and reliable research on emerging issues impacting farms and rural America including ag economy, global markets and trade, food nutrition, and more.
“We need to do this to ensure the trust among our nation’s farmers and the general republic,” he says. “…our responsibility is to ensure the quality, objectivity, and transparency of the statistical information we provide.”
He says ERS conducts economic research to inform and enhance public and private decision making.
NASS Administrator Hubert Hamer says its mission is to provide timely, accurate, and useful statistics for U.S. agriculture.
“We want to make sure we’re relevant to policymakers, objective in our statistical work, we maintain credibility with our data users and the trust of data providers, and we have a strong commitment to customer service,” he says.
He says the primary focus of NASS is data collection.
Spiro and Hamer spoke at a recent webinar by the National Coalition for Food and Agricultural Research.
This is laughable. Why are grain prices so high today? Because the government missed (lied?) about the crops in 2019. Who would have ever guess that if you plant crops 6 weeks late, while large areas of the country go unplanted, that you would have a short crop? Anyone with a brain is who. But not the good old USDA. They are still trying to cover up the 2019 lies, and if the 2020 crop had been a bumper crop, they could have gotten away with it. But its hard to keep lying when the country is out of grain. There is a lot more truth telling to be done. Which brings up the question, who is responsible? Is anyone accountable at this agency? Nobody elected these bureaucrats, but they are just allowed to be so incredibly wrong with no consequences.