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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2008. Understanding American Agriculture: Challenges for the Agricultural Resource Management Survey. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11990.
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Understanding American Agriculture

Challenges for the Agricultural Resource Management Survey

Panel to Review USDA’s Agricultural Resource Management Survey

Committee on National Statistics

Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education

NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS

Washington, D.C.
www.nap.edu

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2008. Understanding American Agriculture: Challenges for the Agricultural Resource Management Survey. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11990.
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THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS

500 Fifth Street, NW Washington, DC 20001

NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.

This study was supported by Contract No. 53-3K06-05-1600 between the National Academy of Sciences and the United States Department of Agriculture. Support of the work of the Committee on National Statistics is provided by a consortium of federal agencies through a grant from the National Science Foundation (award number SBR-0453930). Any opinion, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organizations or agencies that provided support for the project.

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Copyright 2008 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.

Suggested citation: National Research Council. (2008). Understanding American Agriculture: Challenges for the Agricultural Resource Management Survey. Panel to Review USDA’s Agricultural Resource Management Survey. Committee on National Statistics, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2008. Understanding American Agriculture: Challenges for the Agricultural Resource Management Survey. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11990.
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THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES

Advisers to the Nation on Science, Engineering, and Medicine


The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone is president of the National Academy of Sciences.


The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior achievements of engineers. Dr. Charles M. Vest is president of the National Academy of Engineering.


The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, upon its own initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Harvey V. Fineberg is president of the Institute of Medicine.


The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy’s purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone and Dr. Charles M. Vest are chair and vice chair, respectively, of the National Research Council


www.national-academies.org

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2008. Understanding American Agriculture: Challenges for the Agricultural Resource Management Survey. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11990.
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PANEL TO REVIEW USDA’S AGRICULTURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT SURVEY

BRUCE GARDNER (Chair),

Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Maryland

WALTER J. ARMBRUSTER,

Farm Foundation, Oak Brook, Illinois

DAVID BINDER,

Statistics Canada, Ottawa (Retired)

RAY D. BOLLMAN,

Agriculture Division, Statistics Canada, Ottawa

CYNTHIA Z.F. CLARK,

Methodology Directorate, Office for National Statistics, United Kingdom

FREDERICK CONRAD,

Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan

ANI L. KATCHOVA,

Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

ARTHUR KENNICKELL,

Microeconomic Surveys Unit, Board of Governors, Federal Reserve System

CATHERINE KLING,

Department of Economics, Iowa State University

JEAN OPSOMER,

Center for Survey Methodology, Iowa State University

BOBBY R. PHILLS,

Small Fruits Program, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University

STANLEY PRESSER,

Sociology Department and Joint Program in Survey Methodology, University of Maryland

ROBERT D. TORTORA,

Survey Research Center, The Gallup Organization, Washington, DC

MICHAEL K. WOHLGENANT,

Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, North Carolina State University

THOMAS J. PLEWES, Study Director

CARYN KUEBLER, Associate Program Officer

MICHAEL SIRI, Senior Program Assistant

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2008. Understanding American Agriculture: Challenges for the Agricultural Resource Management Survey. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11990.
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COMMITTEE ON NATIONAL STATISTICS 2007

WILLIAM F. EDDY (Chair),

Department of Statistics, Carnegie Mellon University

KATHARINE ABRAHAM,

Department of Economics, University of Maryland, and Joint Program in Survey Methodology

ROBERT BELL,

AT&T Research Laboratories, Florham Park, New Jersey

WILLIAM DuMOUCHEL,

Lincoln Technologies, Inc., Waltham, Massachusetts

JOHN HALTIWANGER,

Department of Economics, University of Maryland

V. JOSEPH HOTZ,

Department of Economics, University of California at Los Angeles

KAREN KAFADAR,

Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center

DOUGLAS MASSEY,

Department of Sociology, Princeton University

VIJAY NAIR,

Department of Statistics and Department of Industrial and Operations Engineering, University of Michigan

JOSEPH NEWHOUSE,

Division of Health Policy Research and Education, Harvard University

SAMUEL H. PRESTON,

Population Studies Center, University of Pennsylvania

KENNETH PREWITT,

School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University

LOUISE RYAN,

Department of Biostatistics, Harvard University

NORA CATE SCHAEFFER,

Department of Sociology, University of Wisconsin at Madison

ALAN ZASLAVSKY,

Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School

CONSTANCE F. CITRO, Director

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2008. Understanding American Agriculture: Challenges for the Agricultural Resource Management Survey. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11990.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2008. Understanding American Agriculture: Challenges for the Agricultural Resource Management Survey. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11990.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2008. Understanding American Agriculture: Challenges for the Agricultural Resource Management Survey. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11990.
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Acknowledgments

This report is the result of the work by many individuals, each of whom has contributed their expertise. This section acknowledges some of the central contributions to this extensive undertaking.

First, I acknowledge and thank my fellow panel members, who gave of their time and expertise so generously, participating in seven meetings and countless other activities critical to completing this report. They shared the administrative load in their service as session moderators during the open meetings and in their participation in the lively discussions of the issues at each of those events. Their assistance in drafting this report resulted in a more comprehensive and defensible product and is greatly appreciated.

Major activities of the panel were the four public sessions, three of which were organized and conducted as formal workshops. In developing and conducting these productive workshops, the panel enjoyed outstanding support from the staff of the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) and the Economic Research Service (ERS). Robert Bass, director of the Census and Survey Division of NASS, and Mary Bohman, director of the Resource Economics Division, served as the primary agency liaisons and facilitated our work with admirable patience and perseverance.

Jim MacDonald of ERS provided much advice, counsel, and facilitation support and was instrumental in focusing the attention of the panel on the difficult issues related to tests of inference of the Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS) data. He spoke before the panel on two occasions and maintained contact with the panel staff as the study emerged. Dania Ferguson of NASS assembled documents requested by the panel,

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2008. Understanding American Agriculture: Challenges for the Agricultural Resource Management Survey. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11990.
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some quite old and requiring considerable research, and prepared several responses to questions submitted by the panel.

In all, staff of NASS and ERS were of great assistance to us in understanding the complex survey design and implementation that characterizes ARMS. In addition to participating in the panel’s open sessions, both NASS and ERS responded to many questions formally transmitted to the agencies. A summary of the panel’s data-gathering activities appears in Appendix A.

The committee gratefully acknowledges the excellent work of the staff of the Committee on National Statistics (CNSTAT) and the National Research Council for support in developing and organizing the workshops and this report. The experience, wise counsel, and untiring efforts of Tom Plewes, study director for the panel, were indispensable in bringing this report to fruition. He was ably assisted by Caryn Kuebler of the CNSTAT staff, and Michael Siri provided administrative support. Michael Cohen assisted in clarifying and resolving issues related to analysis of complex survey data. William Greene provided sound advice on issues of inference in data analysis in service as an expert consultant to the panel.

We especially appreciate the participation of Constance F. Citro, director of CNSTAT, in the workshops and the preparation of this report. Her sage advice benefited the report in numerous ways.

This report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures approved by the NRC’s Report Review Committee. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that assist the institution in making its report as sound as possible, and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process.

The panel wishes to thank the following individuals for their review of this report: Jason Abrevaya, Department of Economics, University of Texas at Austin; Richard N. Boisvert, Department of Agricultural Economics, Cornell University; D. Wade Brorsen, Department of Agricultural Economics, Oklahoma State University; Rachel Harter, National Opinion Research Center, Chicago, IL; Barrett Kirwan, Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Maryland; Virginia Lesser, Survey Research Center, Department of Statistics, Oregon State University; Frank Potter, Statistical Services, Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., Princeton, NJ; and Alan M. Zaslavsky, Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School.

Although the reviewers listed above have provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclusions or recommendations, nor did they see the final draft of the report before its release. The review of this report was overseen by Keith F. Rust, Westat,

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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2008. Understanding American Agriculture: Challenges for the Agricultural Resource Management Survey. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11990.
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Inc., Rockville, MD. Appointed by the NRC, he was responsible for making certain that the independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with institutional procedures and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content of the report rests entirely with the authoring committee and the institution.


Bruce Gardner, Chair

Panel to Review USDA’s Agricultural

Resource Management Survey

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2008. Understanding American Agriculture: Challenges for the Agricultural Resource Management Survey. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11990.
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Acronyms and Abbreviations

AAEA American Agricultural Economics Association

ACS American Community Survey

AEM Association of Equipment Manufacturers

APHIS Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

ARDIS Agricultural and Rural Development Information System

AREI Agricultural Resources and Environmental Indicators

ARMS Agricultural Resource Management Survey

BEA Bureau of Economic Analysis

BLS Bureau of Labor Statistics

CAI Computer-Assisted Interviewing

CAPI Computer-Assisted Personal Interviewing

CAR Commodity Cost and Returns

CASIC Computer-Assisted Survey Information Collection

CBO Congressional Budget Office

CEA Council of Economic Advisers

CEAP Conservation Effects Assessment Project

CPS Current Population Survey

CRP Conservation Reserve Program

CRR Costs and Returns Report

CSP Conservation Security Program

CSV Comma Separated Value

CV Coefficient of Variation

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2008. Understanding American Agriculture: Challenges for the Agricultural Resource Management Survey. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11990.
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DAG Delete-a-Group

EDI Electronic Data Interchange

EDR Electronic Data Reporting

EPA Environmental Protection Agency

EQIP Environmental Quality Incentive Program

ERS Economic Research Service, USDA

FAO Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

FAS Foreign Agricultural Service, USDA

FO U.S. Department of Agriculture State Field Office

FSA Farm Service Agency, USDA

FTE Full-Time Equivalent

FVS Farm Value Sales

GDP Gross Domestic Product

GEE Generalized Estimating Equation

GHG Greenhouse Gas

GIS Geographic Information System

GPS Global Positioning System

HEL Highly Erodible Land

IDAS Interactive Data Analysis System

IID Independent and Identically Distributed

I-O Input-Output

IRS Internal Revenue Service

JPSM Joint Program in Survey Methodology

MILC Milk Income Loss Contract

NASDA National Association of State Departments of Agriculture

NASS National Agricultural Statistics Service, USDA

NIPA National Income and Product Accounts

NOL Non-Overlap

NRC National Research Council

NRCS National Resources Conservation Service, USDA

NRI National Resource Inventory

OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

OEPNU Office of Energy Policy and New Uses

OMB Office of Management and Budget

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P-B Perry-Burt Procedure

PDA Personal Digital Assistant

PPCR Production Practices and Costs Report

PPI Producer Price Index

PPR Production Practices Report

PRISM Project to Reengineer and Integrate Statistical Methods

PSM Policy and Standards Memoranda

RDCs Research Data Centers

RMA Risk Management Agency, USDA

SAS Statistical Analysis System Software

SCF Survey of Consumer Finances

SIP Sequential Interval Poisson

TCDO Training and Career Development Office

TMDL Total Maximum Daily Loads

USDA U.S. Department of Agriculture

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The Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS) is the federal government's primary source of information on the financial condition, production practices, and resource use on farms, as well as the economic well-being of America's farm households. ARMS data are important to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and to congressional, administration, and industry decision makers when they must weigh alternative policies and programs that touch the farm sector or affect farm families.

ARMS is unique in several respects. As a multiple-purpose survey with an agricultural focus, ARMS is the only representative national source of observations of farm-level production practices, the economics of the farm businesses operating the field (or dairy herd, greenhouse, nursery, poultry house, etc.), and the characteristics of the American farm household (age, education, occupation, farm and off-farm work, types of employment, family living expenses, etc.). No other data source is able to match the range and depth of ARMS in these areas. American agriculture is changing, and the science of statistical measurement is changing as well. As with every major governmental data collection with such far-reaching and important uses, it is critical to periodically ensure that the survey is grounded in relevant concepts, applying the most up-to-date statistical methodology, and invested with the necessary design, estimation, and analytical techniques to ensure a quality product.
ARMS is a complex undertaking. From its start as a melding of data collected from the field, the farm, and the household in a multiphase, multiframe, and multiple mode survey design, it has increased in complexity over the decade of its existence as more sophisticated demands for its outputs have been made. Today, the survey faces difficult choices and challenges, including a need for a thorough review of its methods, practices, and procedures. Understanding American Agriculture : Challenges for the Agricultural Resource Management Survey summarizes the recommendations of the committee who wrote the survey.
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