NASS celebrates 50-year partnership

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, Washington, D.C., and the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture are celebrating 50 years of working together to provide timely, accurate and useful statistics in service to U.S. agriculture.

This golden anniversary of partnership was recognized at the 2022 NASDA Annual Meeting in Saratoga Springs, New York.

“Out of all the great things about this partnership, the most important to recognize is that our hardworking NASDA enumerators remain steadfast and passionate about building relationships with producers to ensure that they are represented in statistics about American agriculture,” says NASS Administrator Hubert Hamer. “The stronger the response, the stronger the data, and the better-informed decisions can be about farm policy and programs, research, technology and rural development, education and other services crucial to the success of our producers. NASDA enumerators do an incredible service for NASS, the producers, our nation and the world.”

NASS works closely with state departments of agriculture to support their agricultural statistics needs and reduce duplication with federal programs. NASDA provides vital, grassroots support for the NASS mission by employing thousands of part-time enumerators who assist farmers and ranchers with ag census and survey responses through telephone and in-person interviews. This partnership allows NASDA staff to focus on data collection, which is essential for accurate data reports, while NASS staff concentrate on survey integrity and data analysis.

Over the past 160 years, NASS has conducted thousands of surveys and prepared reports to capture an accurate picture of U.S. agriculture. Since the establishment of the nation-wide cooperative agreement between NASS and NASDA in 1972, NASDA’s connection with farmers and ranchers has meant better survey response rates.

“Today, we are celebrating NASDA and USDA-NASS’s work of telling the story of America’s farmers and ranchers for half a century. Through the Census of Agriculture and the many surveys USDA-NASS and NASDA conduct and collect, we can understand the collective impact of thousands of farmers across the nation,” says NASDA CEO Ted McKinney. “Equally important, with high-quality, impartial data, we have grown our ability to produce safe and nutritious food for everyone. NASDA looks forward to years ahead of working with USDA-NASS to ensure agriculture leads the way toward a healthy and resilient world.”

The largest data collection for USDA and partnership effort with NASDA, the 2022 Census of Agriculture, begins this November.

Read more about NASS.