In November 2003, ERS, the Farm Foundation, and other USDA
agencies will host a workshop in Baltimore, MD on improving
public decisions about farm and ranch
land preservation. The workshop will bring together local program managers
and economists who have studied the issue. Mary
Ahearn
New State-Level
Estimates from ARMS
For the first time, the 2003 Agricultural Resource Management
Survey (ARMS) will field enough questionnaires to generate
statistically significant state-level
estimates for the 15 states with the largest value of agricultural production,
in addition to national and regional estimates. In December 2003, ERS and the
Farm Foundation will host a workshop in St. Louis, MO on new opportunities to
use these data. Participants will include commodity groups, state officials,
conservationists, community groups, educators, and researchers. Jim Johnson
Keeping
Up With Data Developments
In October 2003, several ERS analysts and managers participated
in USDA’s
Data Users’ Meeting in Chicago. They highlighted ERS’s work on a
system that classifies data by specific attributes, ongoing efforts to improve
the factors behind calculation of per capita food use estimates, an interagency
effort to develop a one-stop portal for USDA commodity data and information,
and other ERS work of interest to those analyzing commodity markets. Participants
included agribusiness and USDA analysts and university economists. Janet
Perry and Lewrene Glaser
Economic Measurement, Methodology, and
Policy
In October 2003, ERS co-sponsored the 13th Federal Forecasters
Conference at the Bureau of Labor Statistics in Washington,
DC. These conferences enable forecasters
to exchange information on data issues and data quality, on forecast methodologies,
and on evaluation techniques. This year’s theme was “The Right Data:
Measurement, Methodology, and Policy.” Karen
Hamrick
