ARMS Farm Flyer

Understanding U.S. Agriculture
The Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS)

USDA is gathering data from farm operators like you. The data collected will inform ag producers, USDA, and the public of
on the financial condition, production practices, and resource use of America’s farms and ranches. The results are useful in
comparing your farm with others and for understanding the overall well-being of U.S. agriculture.
The Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS) is conducted by USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service
(NASS) and Economic Research Service (ERS) along with your state department of agriculture. Here are some results from
previous ARMS surveys that help us understand these aspects of American agriculture:

Farm financial assistance
The crop sector received 65% of total Paycheck
Protection Program (PPP) loans in 2020, while the
remaining 35% went to the livestock sector.

Production practices
ARMS data from 2019 indicated
that cotton farmers observed
declines in the effectiveness
of glyphosate.

Conservation
Rye and winter wheat are the most
common cover crops used before
planting corn, soybean, and cotton.

Costs
The combination of precision agriculture,
developments in chemical active ingredients,
and genetically engineered seeds led to a
decrease in overall corn production costs per
bushel between 1996 and 2016.

Farm types
In 2020, Iowa had the most commercial farms
(20,469) in the United States. A commercial
farm is any farm with more than $350,000 in
annual gross cash farm income, and includes
family and non-family farms.

Please Respond
Please help USDA tell the story of U.S. agriculture by completing the ARMS questionnaire today. Respond online at agcounts.usda.gov
or fill out the paper questionnaire and return it in the prepaid envelope provided. Responding online is fast and secure. The results of
this survey will be available in aggregate form only, ensuring that no individual operation or producer can be identified, as required
by federal law.

United States Department of Agriculture
National Agricultural Statistics Service
Economic Research Service

Find out more at nass.usda.gov/go/arms
ers.usda.gov/arms