New
on the ERS website related to ARMS
ARMS
Briefing Room
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The
President's fiscal year 2003 budgets for the Economic Research
Service (ERS) and the National Agricultural Statistics Service
(NASS) include increases for the Agricultural Resource Management
Survey, also known as ARMS. With an increased budget, ERS
and NASS will be able to enhance the survey's ability to meet
current and emerging data needs, improve the statistical quality
of the survey results, and make ARMS data more readily available
through web-based dissemination.
Importance of ARMS
ARMS is USDA's annual, national survey of farms. It is the
primary source of information about the financial condition,
production practices, use of resources, and economic well-being
of America's farmers and farm households. Data and analysis
from ARMS answer key questions from USDA policy officials,
Congress, and other decisionmakers within and outside the
Federal Government about the differential impacts of alternative
policies and programs across the farm sector and among farm
families. ARMS also provides a rich database for researchers
to understand the rapidly changing structure and characteristics
of American farming.
Need for More Funding
ARMS funding has not kept pace with increases in the cost
of data collection and salaries for planning, managing, and
processing the survey. To save money, ERS and NASS have been
forced to reduce the size of the survey sample, curtail the
amount of information collected on production practices and
chemical use, and limit interviewer training, presurvey publicity,
and nonresponse follow-up. These program cuts have compromised
the performance of the survey and the quality of the ARMS
data. At the same time, new demands for ARMS data--such as
data for States and more detailed information on different
types of farms--have gone unmet.
Improvements Planned
With increased funding, ERS and NASS plan to:
- Improve the statistical accuracy of the survey results
by increasing the size of the annual ARMS sample to its
historical level of approximately 18,000 to 19,000 farms.
- Return to a cycle of collecting information on production
practices and the cost of production for three commodities
each year and collect information on field crop chemical
use on an annual basis.
- Provide more geographically detailed information, particularly
for the 15 States with the greatest value of farm production.
- Improve the rate of survey response with strategies such
as State-specific promotion and outreach activities and
improved interviewer training.
- Improve web-based dissemination capabilities to make
ARMS data more readily available and easily accessible to
data users.
- Initiate new research into how the ARMS survey can be
better integrated with the Census of Agriculture and other
NASS surveys to improve its efficiency.
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