North American Tripartite Committee on Agricultural Statistics

Mandate

The North American Tripartite Committee on Agricultural Statistics is a joint initiative by the lead agricultural statistical agencies of Canada, Mexico, and USA that was established to advance the development and publication of North American agriculture and agricultural related statistics. The committee fosters interaction and knowledge about each agricultural statistical agency and their processes by:

• Sharing knowledge, experience, and training in various statistical components including methodology, standards, systems, and technologies;
• Understanding each country's agricultural statistical system and constraints;
• Promoting the standardization of outputs;
• Promoting the adoption of common classification systems and standards;
• Sharing information technologies and use of information systems and analytical tools and processes;
• Developing a repository of relevant documents, papers and presentations to be located on the Tripartite website.
• Developing and maintaining relevant agricultural and related information for North America for public access via the Tripartite website.

The Tripartite Committee aims to meet in plenary at least once per year, rotating location among the participating countries.Working Groups will be established to deal with specific issues and objectives. These Working Groups may meet face-to-face, but their primary means of regular communication will be via e-mail and telephone / video conference calls. The Working Groups will submit progress reports on the status of their activities for the Tripartite Committee meetings.

Lead participating agencies:

• Canada - Agriculture Division, Statistics Canada
• Mexico - Agricultural and Fisheries Information Service (SIAP by its acronym in Spanish) Secretary of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food (SAGARPA by its acronym in Spanish) National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI by its acronym in Spanish).
• USA - Statistics Division, National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) US Department of Agriculture (USDA)