Harvesting the Facts on Farming

Agricultural Resource
Management Survey
Harvesting the Facts on Farming
Data for Decisionmaking
Why is ARMS important?
SDA’s Agricultural Resource Management
Survey, or ARMS, is the only annual,
nationally representative survey of America’s
diverse farms and farm households. The 35,000
participants in the survey represent 2.1 million farm
operations. ARMS provides key economic indicators about
agriculture, and is the major source of information on
production practices, resource use, and financial conditions
among U.S. farms, and on the characteristics and
economic well-being of farm households. ARMS is an
indispensable tool for those who make the laws and
policies that affect every farm operation, as well as
for anyone with a business or academic interest in
the farm sector.

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Policy makers can use the data to become better
informed about the complexity of agriculture so that policy
decisions are based on data, not anecdotes, perceptions, or
opinions. Accurate data can give business and policy
decision makers a realistic picture of the condition of the
farm economy. Information collected in the ARMS survey
can be used to gauge the effects that economic events have
on farm households and businesses. ARMS data are used
many times each year to provide information requested by
the House and Senate Agriculture Committees and by
policy analysts in USDA.

How Do Farmers Benefit From ARMS?
Here are just a few examples:
Lawmakers can evaluate the impacts of alternative
policies and programs on farms of different types and in
different regions.

Policy makers can measure the effect of changing input
costs on producers’ bottom lines by using ARMS data.
Farm groups and trade associations can use the data to
assess how policy changes might affect their members.
ARMS data can demonstrate the range of conservation
practices that are used, and how farmers are likely to
respond to alternative conservation initiatives.
Farm operators themselves can use ARMS data to
compare their operations with national and regional trends
among similar operations and among all farms. How
widespread is contracting? What is the average age and
education level of farmers in a given region or a given farm
size? How widespread are adoption of new technologies
and the use of innovative production practices?

What Does ARMS Tell Us?
Several examples of the facts revealed in ARMS
demonstrate the broad range of information it generates.
The data also can be used to demonstrate the diversity
within the farm sector, by farm size, geographic region,
household characteristics, and commodities produced.
Production expenses: ARMS collects data on the costs
of fertilizer, fuel, rent, seed, labor, custom applications,
pesticides, and other production inputs for selected
crops. U.S. farm cash production expenses totaled
$199.7 billion in 2005, up 7.2 percent from 2004.
Fuel costs were among the largest contributors to
the increase.
Farm business values: Farm debt-to-asset ratio has
continued to fall, and is now at the lowest level in
40 years.
Contracting: Marketing and production contracts (advance agreements)
between farmers and commodity
buyers accounted for 38 percent of
the value of U.S. agricultural production in 2004, up from 33 percent in
1995.
Agricultural Resource
Management Survey

Agricultural Resource Management Survey
Farm household income sources: Farm households,
like many other households, draw livelihoods from a
variety of work, savings, and investments. The relative
importance of the different components of farm
household income varies by farm type, but off-farm
income is most important for a majority of
farm households.
Small farms: In 2004, 98 percent of farms were family
farms, and 90 percent were small family farms (total
sales under $250,000). Small family farms accounted
for 61 percent of all land owned by farms but only
27 percent of farm production.

Which Major Reports Rely on ARMS Data?
ARMS data form the basis of a number of USDA
reports, some published annually and all accessible
on the web:

Farmers’ Manufactured Input Costs
$ billion
40
35

Annual report provides comprehensive information on
family and nonfamily farms and important trends in
farming, operator household income, farm performance,
and contracting. Companion brochure also is available.
http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/eib12/
http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/eib13/

Agricultural Income and Finance Outlook
Annual report looks at farm business and household
income, farm profitability, government payments,
production expenses, debts and assets, and other financial
measures for the Nation, regions, and selected States.
http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/MannUsda/viewDocument
Info.do?documentID=1254

Farm Production Expenditures Annual Summary
Report provides estimates of major expense items by farm
production region, economic class, commodity, and
selected States.
http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/MannUsda/viewDocument
Info.do?documentID=1066

Electricity

Fuels and oils

Pesticides

30
25
20
15
10
5
0
1996

Family Farm Report

Fertilizer and lime

97

98

99 2000

01

02

03

04

05

Farmers' production expenses are among
the data collected by ARMS.

Agricultural Contracting Update
ARMS measures the share of production sold
under marketing or production contracts, which cover an
increasing share of the value of U.S. agricultural
production.
http://www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/eib9/

It’s important that farmers
respond to the ARMS survey
ARMS provides a way for you and other operators to
communicate to policy makers the economic conditions, production practices, and characteristics of your
operations. Individually reported data are strictly
confidential.
Every response improves the accuracy of the data, and
farm operators are the only ones who can provide
these data.

ARMS is the mirror in which American farming views itself

You can find ARMS data at:
www.ers.usda.gov/data/arms/
Economic Research Service

Agricultural Resource
Management Survey