2019 Supporting Statement – Part B
Local Food Directories and Survey
OMB NO. 0581-0169
B. COLLECTIONS OF INFORMATION EMPLOYING STATISTICAL METHODS
DESCRIBE (INCLUDING A NUMERICAL ESTIMATE) THE POTENTIAL RESPONDENT UNIVERSE AND ANY SAMPLING OR OTHER RESPONDENT SELECTION METHOD TO BE USED. DATA ON THE NUMBER OF ENTITIES (E.G., ESTABLISHMENTS, STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS, HOUSEHOLDS, OR PERSONS) IN THE UNIVERSE COVERED BY THE COLLECTION AND IN THE CORRESPONDING SAMPLE ARE TO BE PROVIDED IN TABULAR FORM FOR THE UNIVERSE AS A WHOLE AND FOR EACH OF THE STRATA IN THE PROPOSED SAMPLE. INDICATE EXPECTED RESPONSE RATES FOR THE COLLECTION AS A WHOLE. IF THE COLLECTION HAD BEEN CONDUCTED PREVIOUSLY, INCLUDE THE ACTUAL RESPONSE RATE ACHIEVED DURING THE LAST COLLECTION.
The respondent universe for the National Farmers Market Managers Survey is mangers of US farmers’ markets in business in 2024. For this study, a farmers’ market is a collection of two or more farm vendors selling agricultural products directly to customers at a common, recurrent physical location. This study will utilize capture-recapture methodology to ensure complete coverage of this population. Two list sources will be used. One list will be the Farmers Market Directory maintained by the Agricultural Marketing Survey (AMS). AMS annually sends reminder emails to market managers of the over 1,050 farmers markets listed in the Directory that have valid email addresses, and have updated their listing within the last two years, State Departments of Agriculture, and State Farmers Market Associations. The Farmers Market Coalition also assists the Department with the annual update push each year by encouraging its members to list and update their listing in the Directory. The AMS Public Affairs Office writes blogs and tweets about the importance of listing and updating existing listings in the Directory. Additionally, AMS conducts internet searches to determine whether markets are still in operation and to collect current email addresses for these farmers markets where possible. Afterwards, AMS sends requests to markets with outdated listings to update their listings.
The second list will be obtained by web scraping. Unlike the AMS list, the web-scraped list will not be confirmed to be associated with active farmers’ markets. We anticipate that over 9,000 markets will be identified by web scrapping.
The anticipated response rate is 60%.
2. DESCRIBE THE PROCEDURES FOR THE COLLECTION OF INFORMATION INCLUDING:
- STATISTICAL METHODOLOGY FOR STRATIFICATION AND SAMPLE SELECTION;
- ESTIMATION PROCEDURE;
- DEGREE OF ACCURACY NEEDED FOR THE PURPOSE DESCRIBED IN THE JUSTIFICATION;
- UNUSUAL PROBLEMS REQUIRING SPECIALIZED SAMPLING PROCEDURES, AND
- ANY USE OF PERIODIC (LESS FREQUENT THAN ANNUAL) DATA COLLECTION CYCLES TO REDUCE BURDEN.
AMS made every effort to gather a complete listing of farmers markets in the U.S. by employing a web scraping to identify farmers markets that advertise their operation on the internet but do not appear on any federal or state listing of farmers markets. AMS contacted state farmers market associations and State Departments of Agriculture to obtain their current listings of farmers markets in their state. In addition, AMS will request farmers market managers that list their markets in USDA’s National Farmers Market Directory to update their listing so that the most accurate contact information of farmers markets is available for the survey. The survey will be mailed to survey respondents. Each mailing of the questionnaire will include a cover letter and instructions of how the questionnaire can be completed online. Farmers’ market managers will have the option of responding via mail, on-line, phone enumeration, and/or field enumeration.
The key estimates for this survey are the number of farmers’ markets in the U.S., in each U.S. Census Bureau Region, in each U.S. Census Bureau Division, and each urbanicity category. The sample will be designed using a 2 percent coefficient of variation (CV) target for all key estimates assuming a 60% response rate and that 70% of the farmers’ markets on the frames will be currently active farmers’ markets. To achieve these CV targets, a stratified systematic sample of farmers’ markets will be drawn from the union of two lists mentioned in B1. Strata will be defined using the following variables:
Farmers’ Market Directory indicator
Web-scraped list indicator
U.S. Census Bureau Division
Three level urbanicity category based on the 2013 Rural-Urban Continuum Codes
Within strata a systematic sample will be drawn using the following sort variables:
State
2013 Rural-Urban Continuum Code
County
City/Town
Based on the availability of additional variables at the time of sampling, more sort variable may be utilized.
The sample will be allocated based on the CV targets. In addition, the sample will be allocated to ensure an adequate number of respondents for each list membership combination to adjust for coverage (i.e. directory only, web-scrape only, on both lists). Sample size for each stratum will be adjusted to account for differential nonresponse and out-of-scope rates (e.g. out-of-business farmers’ markets) between strata. Nonresponse and out-of-scope records are particularly a concern for the web-scraped list since these markets might not have a prior relationship with AMS or USDA, and these records have not been confirmed to be associated with active farmers’ markets.
Unit nonresponse will be accounted for using a standard nonresponse weighting adjustment. In addition, a capture-recapture approach will be used to account for under coverage of the union of the two frames.
AMS worked with USDA’s National Agriculture Statistics Service (NASS) to develop the survey questionnaire. NASS will administer the survey in 2025.
3. DESCRIBE METHODS TO MAXIMIZE RESPONSE RATES AND TO DEAL WITH ISSUES OF NON-RESPONSE. THE ACCURACY AND RELIABILITY OF INFORMATION COLLECTED MUST BE SHOWN TO BE ADEQUATE FOR INTENDED USES. FOR COLLECTIONS BASED ON SAMPLING, A SPECIAL JUSTIFICATION MUST BE PROVIDED FOR ANY COLLECTION THAT WILL NOT YIELD "RELIABLE" DATA THAT CAN BE GENERALIZED TO THE UNIVERSE STUDIED.
The survey questionnaire will be mailed to farmer’s market managers. The questionnaire will include a cover letter and instructions of how the questionnaire can be completed online. Farmer’s market managers will have the option of responding via mail or on-line. Phone and limited field enumeration will be used for mail/web non-respondents. These procedures are expected to maximize the response rate. Data collection may be challenging since farmers market’s locations change frequently, and farmer’s market management has a high turnover rate. We will strive to achieve a 60 percent response rate.
4. DESCRIBE ANY TESTS OF PROCEDURES OR METHODS TO BE UNDERTAKEN. TESTING IS ENCOURAGED AS AN EFFECTIVE MEANS OF REFINING COLLECTIONS OF INFORMATION TO MINIMIZE BURDEN AND IMPROVE UTILITY. TESTS MUST BE APPROVED IF THEY CALL FOR ANSWERS TO IDENTICAL QUESTIONS FROM 10 OR MORE RESPONDENTS. A PROPOSED TEST OR SET OF TESTS MAY BE SUBMITTED FOR APPROVAL SEPARATELY OR IN COMBINATION WITH THE MAIN COLLECTION OF INFORMATION.
NASS conducted cognitive testing on the questionnaire with prospective respondents to evaluate the time necessary to complete the questionnaire and to assess the instrument for understanding clarity. It is estimated that the questionnaire will take 28 minutes to complete.
5. PROVIDE THE NAME AND TELEPHONE NUMBER OF INDIVIDUALS CONSULTED ON STATISTICAL ASPECTS OF THE DESIGN AND THE NAME OF THE AGENCY UNIT, CONTRACTOR(S), GRANTEE(S), OR OTHER PERSON(S) WHO WILL ACTUALLY COLLECT AND/OR ANALYZE THE INFORMATION FOR THE AGENCY.
The AMS/MSD employee who will coordinate this data collection with NASS is:
Edward Ragland (202-720-8317).
Richard Hopper – NASS Survey Statistician – 202.720.2206
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| Author | Ed Ragland |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2023-08-01 |