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Vaden: USDA working to restore trust in ag data

The USDA says it has a plan to rebuild farmers’ trust in USDA data.

Deputy Secretary Stephen Vaden, along with a panel of USDA leaders told attendees at a data users meeting in Kansas City this week the USDA would be providing more explanation on what goes into reports, along with a new year-in-review.

“As I’ve said several times, we’re going to hold ourselves publicly accountable for the data we put out there,” Vaden told attendees. “This year, you’ll see for the first time a report where we’ll comprehensively go through the major commodities and compare the predictions we made versus the actual numbers as they were revealed as the harvest and marketing seasons come to an end.”

He said USDA expects to have at least three things to discuss in that report. “First, when we get it right, we absolutely need to brag about ourselves, when there’s a miss, we should be asking more questions…or could there be something systemic that could repeat itself in the future we need to take account of and make adjustments in our data policies for?”

The USDA says it received 250 comments in its recent Request for Information on ways to improve USDA data, with most of those comments asking USDA to bring back a food survey that has been discontinued. There were also comments and questions about USDA’s WASDE report and National Ag Statistics Service reports.

Vaden tells Brownfield the agency’s data is valuable, but there’s a misunderstanding of how data is used and collected. He says USDA will address that.

“We have a better job to do in terms of getting out the steps we are already taking and what we are already analyzing.”

Vaden says he’s concerned about the lack of farmer survey responses in the USDA’s Prospective Planting report released in March. But Joseph Parson, the administrator of the National Ag Statistics Service, says the USDA has a solution to address low farmer survey responses.

“We are seeking approval in our Office of Management and Budget dockets. Everything has to be cleared with OMB to increase the sample size for the 2026 June survey by about 35 percent and 10 percent for the September, December and March reports. That’s for the crop survey.”

Vaden also tells Brownfield data is a two-way conversation, and he’s optimistic these solutions will help rebuild trust in the USDA.

“No one who’s in the prediction business will always be perfect, but we can always improve, and that’s the goal here,” says Vaden.

Hear Brownfield’s interview with Vaden.