Quality data is paramount to making sound business decisions. When it comes to dairy farming, sound data will be even more important as we make decisions on participation in the Margin Protection Program for Dairy (MPP-Dairy) for 2015 and beyond.
Recently, I had the opportunity to ask USDA Secretary Vilsack how USDA and its National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) might step up timeliness of its reporting on important farm prices and field data. To listen to the 1 minute and 20 seconds audio file, click here.
In short, it will be tough to step up timeliness and data collection. The reason? USDA is doing more with less . . . there are $1 billion fewer dollars available in the USDA budget today than when Secretary Vilsack joined the agency six years ago. On top of that, the Farm Service Agency (FSA) has 18 percent fewer workers than 2009. That is just one example of the recent reductions in USDA funding.
Bottom line, if Congress doesn't make funding USDA a higher priority, we will continue to see services erode at our nation's leading agricultural agency.
As Vilsack pointed out early in his comments that same day, we might also be victims of our own success. Americans only spend 6 percent of their disposal income in grocery stores, 10 percent when you count restaurant sales. That clearly gives the message to others that agriculture is doing quite well.
