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Questions arise over USDA data
A member of the U.S. House Agriculture Committee says the recently delayed release of the Quarterly Agricultural Trade report has raised concerns about data coming from the USDA.
In a recent hearing with Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins, Rep. Shontel Brown, a Democratic member from Ohio, questioned why the report was delayed and abbreviated.
“It had been reported that you delayed the report because it showed an increase in the trade deficit in farm goods for later this year,” she said.
The report was scheduled to be released May 29th, but was not made available until June 2nd, and did not include the usual analysis.
Rollins said, “It’s my understanding that we wanted to make sure it was complete, that the citations were correct, and that the review was done in total. I want to make sure every piece of research we move out is the best, the best cited, etcetera.”
Brown says maintaining USDA data credibility is important.
“Economists, farmers and others rely on reports like this to track markets and plan for the future.” She says, “When you start to insert politics into data releases, you harm the reputation of your department and erode the trust.”
Joe Glauber, former USDA chief economist, recently told Politico that objectivity is key, and the public depends on it.
Rollins says her agency is committed to providing accurate and timely information to the agricultural industry.
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