Overview
The annual Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS) is
USDA's primary source of information on the financial condition,
production practices, and resource use of America's farm businesses
and the economic well-being of America's farm households. ARMS data
are essential to USDA, congressional, administration, and industry
decision makers when weighing alternative policies and programs
that touch the farm sector or affect farm families.
Sponsored jointly by ERS and the National Agricultural
Statistics Service (NASS), ARMS is the only national survey that
provides observations of field-level farm practices, the economics
of the farm businesses operating the field (or dairy herd, green
house, nursery, poultry house, etc.), and the characteristics of
farm operators and their households (age, education, occupation,
farm and off-farm work, types of employment, family living
expenses, etc.)--all collected in a representative sample.
Information about crop production, farm production, business, and
households includes data for selected surveyed States where
available. See
more background on ARMS....
Release and Update Schedule for the ARMS Data
ARMS data are released and/or revised twice a year. This
schedule governs updates to the data in this website tool, data
available in NASS/ERS data enclaves, data used by MOU holders (see
how to request access to raw ARMS data), and data used by ERS
researchers. The releases are scheduled for May 31 and November 30
each year. A complete history of updates and
revisions to the data is available.
Major Data Topics Available in the ARMS Web-based Tool
Farm Structure and Finance
Structure and financial status and performance of U.S.
farm operators, their households, and farm businesses. Data
were last updated November 30, 2011, reflecting the 2010
survey.
Crop Production Practices
Status and trends in crop production practices for several field
crops. Data as of November 30, 2011, includes selected crop
surveys through 2010. Revisions to this data were
released June 13, 2012. See the Update and Revision History for
details.
Note that data on costs and returns are now only available in
the Commodity Costs and Returns
data product.
To run
tailored reports from ARMS:
- Corrections to fertilizer timing data in the Crop Production
Practices surveys for 2006-10 surveyed crops. Removal, until
further notice, of 1996-2005 fertilizer timing data. See details on
the Update and Revision History
page.
- 2010 data for farm and household finances.
- 2010 corn production practices data.
- Comparability between conventional and organic production
systems, and owner and renter operators, for production
practices.
For More Detailed Data Needs