Data

According to the 2012 Census of Agriculture, there are over five million head of sheep and lambs in the United States, and over 2.6 million head of goats. A growing trend is producing these animals using grass fed production systems, especially for small to mid-sized producers. In response to the...

This post is part of the Science Tuesday feature series on the USDA blog. Check back each week as we showcase stories and news from USDA’s rich science and research portfolio. On any given day, a USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) employee or representative might be contacting a...

This post is part of the Science Tuesday feature series on the USDA blog. Check back each week as we showcase stories and news from USDA's rich science and research profile. Have you ever heard the saying, “In God we trust, all others bring data?" Those are the words of William Edwards Deming, a...

Are you in the market for data covering locally and regionally produced agricultural products? You are not alone. Consumer demand for local and regional food products continues to soar, with retail sales at an estimated $6.1 billion in 2012. Thanks to support from the 2014 Farm Bill, USDA Market...

This is the twenty-fourth installment of the Organic 101 series that explores different aspects of the USDA organic regulations. Across the country, more and more people are looking for organic options at their local markets. Thanks to the remarkable growth in the number of domestic and...

Have you ever wondered how American farmers and businesses track the price of their commodities? Today, farmers, ranchers, and the entire agricultural supply chain turn to USDA Market News – administered by my agency, the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) – for timely, reliable, unbiased data...

It’s hard to believe that it has been a year since USDA embarked on its push to make its data available to you. As you know, open data is free, public data that can be used to: launch commercial and nonprofit ventures; conduct research; make data-driven decisions; and help solve complex problems. It...

This post is part of the Science Tuesday feature series on the USDA blog. Check back each week as we showcase stories and news from USDA’s rich science and research portfolio. Good day, or “Goede dag as they say in Dutch. And a good several days we experienced in the Netherlands at the 3 rd Annual...

Unless you live completely off the grid, you likely have heard of, and contribute to, “big data,” the often-used catch phrase describing massive (and ever-increasing) volumes of information stored digitally on computers, servers and clouds. From advertisers using data mined from customer...

Innovation, biotechnology and big data are changing the way we produce, distribute and even consume food. From using innovative approaches to improve food safety to sharing market data to assist producers in reaching larger markets, big data and new technologies continue to change the face of...