Customized
Agricultural Resource Management Survey Data on ERS Website
As of November 9, visitors to the ERS website
can create tailor-made summaries of data on crop production
practices, commodity costs of production, and farm and farm
household financial information. Newly available data from the
Agricultural Resource Management Survey
(ARMS) will allow users to tabulate data for the Nation,
as well as for 15 featured States with high cash returns from
farming.
Robert Dubman
ERS Awards Grants for Research on the
Economics of Invasive Species Management
USDA/ARS |
ERS recently made seven competitive funding
awards totaling $1.1 million for research on the economics of
invasive species management. Research will focus on three areas:
(1) stakeholders and incentives for efficient invasive species
program management, (2) practical decision tools for invasive
species management, and (3) trade and invasive species. Award
recipients and details of their planned research are available
on the ERS website.
Donna Roberts and
Craig Osteen
Agricultural
Resource Management Survey Promoted on RFD-TV
In September 2004, Kitty Smith, ERS Resource
Economics Division Director, and Rich Allen, NASS Deputy Administrator
for Programs and Products, were interviewed by Max Armstrong
on a live telecast on RFD-TV. The interview explored the purposes
and uses of USDA's Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS),
and informed farmers about the value of the information collected
in the survey. ARMS surveys are being readied to go into the
field this winter. Two 30-second Public Service Announcements
about ARMS were also recorded for airing throughout the year.
Kitty Smith
Baby
Boomers Increasingly Move to Rural Areas
The oldest members of the baby boom cohort
are now 58 years old, just entering the stage in their lives
when they tend to migrate for retirement. Current research shows
that baby boomers are shifting toward rural and small town destinations,
but they seem to be attracted to a more diverse set of destinations,
compared with older cohorts. Researchers from ERS and Vermont's
Middlebury College are conducting a study to gauge the impacts
of baby boomer retirement migration on rural and small town
America. The study will examine how demographic, natural amenity,
housing market, urban proximity, and economic factors affected
the migration flows of baby boomers into rural areas during
the 1990s. Findings will also help researchers to better predict
the future migration patterns of baby boomers over the next
20 years. John Cromartie
Improvements
in Pesticide Data
USDA |
In September 2004, ERS economist Jorge Fernandez-Cornejo
participated in the kickoff meeting of the Pesticide Data Subcommittee
of the Advisory Committee on Agriculture Statistics (ACAS) in
Washington, DC. The subcommittee, composed of government, academic,
and industry representatives, was established to explore improvements
and efficiencies in the data collection of pesticide use in
agricultural and nonagricultural applications. These improvements
would include analysis, processing, and communication of crop
protection product information. Jorge
Fernandez-Cornejo
Keeping
Agricultural Market Access Data Current
The Agricultural
Market Access Database (AMAD) is a collaboration among national
and international research institutions, including ERS, to provide
an up-to-date, comprehensive source for data on agricultural
tariffs and tariff rate quotas. In September 2004, Agriculture
and Agri- Food Canada hosted a meeting of AMAD members to discuss
potential enhancements to the database, including adding tariff
preferences for developing countries and integrating AMAD with
the World Bank/United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
data system in order to provide easy access to developing countries.
John Wainio
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