considered primarily one of statistical support to the Department.

Mission. This office provides statistical data related to general revenue sharing. It contributes to policymaking in this special Federal/State relationship.

National Science Foundation

The National Science Foundation (NSF) plays a key coordinating role in the collection, analysis, and dissemination of data on the development and utilization of scientific manpower, the funding of scientific and technical activities, and selected science and technology output measures.

To carry out this activity the NSF conducts surveys of its own and, in many instances, contracts with other agencies and nonfederal organizations for the collection of data. For example, NSF uses the Census Bureau to collect R&D funding data from industrial organizations. Another example is the National Academy of Sciences which, under contract to NSF, develops statistical information on a doctorate roster of scientists and engineers.

NSF also uses data on science and engineering manpower extracted from data collected by other Federal agencies, including:

Immigration and Naturalization Service in analyzing scientists', engineers', and physicians' migration patterns;

Civil Service Commission in analyzing Federal Government employment of scientific and technical personnel; and

The National Center for Education Statistics.

Besides conducting regularly scheduled, periodic scientific and technological manpower and funding surveys among the principal economic sectorsgovernment, industry, universities and colleges, and nonprofit institutions-NSF also carries out special surveys and analyses to provide pertinent information related to current science policy issues. Examples of special efforts are a recent survey of young and senior university faculty support, research participation, and tenure; the development of R&D deflators; and statistical projection and evaluation efforts to assess the impact of emerging national programs on the requirements for R&D funds or for scientists and engineers in particular occupations.

NSF also sponsors a program for the identification, development, and collection of

measures of output resulting from science and technology such as the number of patents granted and the number of citations appearing in published research journals. This particular effort is still in its very early stages of development.

Mission. The major thrust of the NSF statistical effort is the development of the factual and analytical basis for national planning and policy formulation in the area of science and technology resources.

U.S. International Trade Commission

The U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) is an independent agency. Most of the agency's statistical activity is undertaken by the Office of Trade and Industry and the Office of Economic Research. The agency has only a small statistical budget and does not have any reimbursable statistical programs with other agencies.

Mission. The USITC conducts research relating to aspects of commercial policy and international trade. Most of the agency's data collection activities are conducted as special studies. The agency's statistical products form the basis of policy hearings and are frequently collected at the request of the President or Congress.

Veterans Administration

The Veterans Administration (VA) is an independent agency. Most of its statistical activity is housed in the Reports and Statistics Service (RSS) of the Office of Controller, a staff office reporting to the Administrator of Veterans Affairs. RSS is responsible for providing statistical support to the three line Departments (Medicine and Surgery, Veterans Benefits, Data Management) and to other staff offices. In addition, RSS also conducts its own statistical programs which usually involve collecting and analyzing data of general agency interest such as veterans population survey data, which are collected by the Census Bureau under a continuing reimbursable program. The VA also reimburses the National Center for Health Statistics, on an “as needed" basis, for collecting data on the health status of veterans in the Health Interview Survey.

Introduction

Agriculture has long been an important part of Federal statistical programs. From early data collection programs started in the 1840's by the Census Bureau and the Commissioner of Patents, statistics for agriculture evolved to meet the information needs of the industry as it went through expansion and commercialization. Most of the early data system was developed to aid commerce because the majority of people were on farms. The common theme was that individuals, given sufficient information, would make rational production decisions leading to economic stability. The main purpose of the 19th century statistics on agriculture was to secure a fair price for the farmer and, hence, a fair cost to the consumer in the increasingly market-oriented agricultural economy.

Expansion of agricultural statistics into new areas such as prices, the parity price formula, labor supplies, farm credit, and price spreads occurred in the early part of the 1900's. World War I, the Great Depression, and continued change to a marketoriented agricultural industry brought new demands for agricultural statistics. A larger governmental role in the the life of the Nation added the need for more information on the agricultural economy by government policymakers. In response to these added needs, sector accounts on income, expenditures, debts and assets were developed, forecasting and analytical efforts were increased, and current conditions in agriculture were analyzed on a regular basis.

The agenda for agricultural policy makers has continued to expand since the 1940's. The development and general economic condition of rural communities became an important topic as the number of people making a living from farming declined. The performance of the entire food and fiber sector, from input suppliers through production, processing, wholesaling and retailing, has become an important policy concern for consumers. Interests of consumers in adequate supplies of food at reasonable or fair prices and the economic conditions in rural areas have merged into concerns about the economic structure and control of the farm sector. In

recent years the significantly increased importance of international markets for food and fiber and problems with the environment have created important new policy concerns for agriculture.

These broader areas of public policies affecting agriculture have created new demands for data and information. One of the major problems with the existing system of agricultural and rural statistics is that it has not kept pace with the data needs to address these broader policy issues. A second major problem is that the data system has not been updated to reflect the changing economic structure of the agricultural industry.

Major User Groups

Users of statistics on agriculture can be classified into four broad categories: production, processing and handling, consumers, and policy and research institutions. Those involved in production or supplying inputs for production are farmers and their commodity organizations, financial institutions, and companies supplying fertilizer, pesticides and other inputs. They use agricultural statistics for production and market planning and to aid orderly market operations. Commodity supply, use and price data are very important for these business decisionmakers, just as they were when the first statistics were collected in the 1840's.

Processors and handlers are traditionally assigned that segment of the marketing chain from receipt of raw farm products to consumer. This includes such functions as transportation, storage, processing, packaging, and marketing. These data users also rely heavily on commodity statistics to aid their business decisions. The continual flow of a large variety of fresh, quality food products to consumers is greatly aided by accurate and timely commodity statistics.

Consumers includes both the organized and unorganized who wish to stretch the budget or improve the nutritional quality of the diet. Users in this category range from individual households to large foreign corporations in the U.S. market to buy agricultural products. Consumers want to appraise the equity of their cost for food and fiber products so

they are interested in economic indicators and performance measures of the food and fiber industries as well as commodity statistics.

Other institutions with interests in agricultural statistics are governments and universities, both of which are interested in the policies and programs that affect the structure and performance of the food and fiber industries and economic and social welfare of rural people. There is a vast array of natural resource, food, environmental, energy, economic and social policies and programs that regulate, support or impact in other ways on the agricultural industry and rural people. Researchers and policymakers in these public institutions are faced daily with issues that require information from the agricultural data system.

Responsible Agencies and Basic Core Programs

The organizations primarily responsible for the collection, analysis, and dissemination of agricultural statistics are (1) the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), (2) the U.S. Department of Commerce, and (3) State departments of agriculture.

U.S. Department of Agriculture Economics, Statistics, and Cooperatives Service

The Economics, Statistics and Cooperatives Service (ESCS) serves as the primary statistical and analytical agency for the Department of Agriculture. It was recently formed from four existing agencies. These were the Statistical Reporting Service, the Economic Research Service, the Farmer Cooperative Service and the Economic Management Support Center.

The statistics divisions, which were the former Statistical Reporting Service, are USDA's principal agencies for collecting and publishing data on domestic agriculture. This includes preparation of estimates pertaining to the current year's crops, livestock, poultry, dairy, prices, and other aspects of the agricultural economy. Most of these data are collected through numerous short surveys rather than comprehensive surveys of entire farm operations. Statistics are regularly provided at the national and State level and occasionally for counties. Reports are issued containing weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual data for a wide array of commodities or other data items. This continuous flow of data on domestic agriculture is produced in a very timely manner for assistance to analysts trying to provide continuous and up-to-date appraisal of the domestic agriculture economy.

Current crop reports provide estimates of acreages farmers intend to plant in the coming season, the acres planted and harvested, production, disposition of the crop, and remaining stocks. Forecasts of yield and production are issued monthly during the growing season based on information voluntarily supplied by farmers and from counts, measurements, and observations made in sample fields by ESCS

enumerators.

Livestock and poultry reports include estimates of inventory numbers at regular intervals during the year. Reports also cover breeding intentions, births, hatchings, number on feed, wool and mohair production, numbers slaughtered, meat and egg production, and disposition and value.

Dairy reports indicate numbers of milk cows, monthly and annual milk production, and use of milk. Production of major manufactured dairy products is reported weekly, monthly, and annually.

Reports published by ESCS show prices received by farmers for nearly 200 products and prices paid for about 500 items needed for production, indexes of prices received and paid, parity prices, and season average prices of crops, livestock, and livestock prod

ucts.

Other reports by ESCS deal with farm labor and wages, fertilizer, seeds, bees and honey, mink, naval stores, cold storage holdings, and other miscellaneous agricultural products.

In addition, ESCS has been conducting a research program in the use of satellite observation techniques to provide information on the extent and type of U.S. crops. The objective of this program is to use LANDSAT to improve the efficiency of crop acreage estimates for small areas and to improve the land use stratification for area sampling frames. This program, while potentially valuable, is still in the experimental phase and is not intended, in its application, as a substitute for direct surveys.

The Economic Research Service, the former major analytical arm of USDA for economics and social science, also was made a part of the Economics, Statistics, and Cooperatives Service. These economics divisions of ESCS carry out an extensive program of current statistics, analysis, and forecasting on: supply, consumption and use of agricultural products (both domestic and foreign), farm income, price spreads and marketing costs, farm population, land tenure and use, farming practices, supply and use of production inputs, farm real estate values and transfers, farm debt and assets, and international trade. Other important areas of work are in water resource planning, environmental impact