Farm Structure & Finance
Documentation
USDA's Economic Research Service and National Agricultural Statistics Service
(NASS) have surveyed farmers to obtain information about farm financial conditions
and production practices since 1975. Beginning in 1996, standard financial
statements (income statement, balance sheet, financial ratios) as well as structural
characteristics are summarized annually for various classifications of farms,
such as farm type, sales class, region, operator age, and a seven-category
farm typology and a three-category typology (rural residence, intermediate
and commercial farms) as part of the Agricultural Resource Management Survey
(ARMS).
Scope/Coverage
Data used to develop information about farms, farm operators, and farm operator
households are collected in the annual ARMS surveys of U.S. farms. There
are multiple versions of the ARMS each year, including whole-farm and commodity
production practice and cost versions. Each production practice and cost
version gathers detailed information about input use, field operations, and
production costs of a particular commodity. Data are collected by personal
interviews with farmers and by mail (beginning in 2003) using questionnaires
developed by NASS and ERS.
The ARMS data collection starts during the fall when crop production practice
and cost data are collected, and finishes in the spring with collection of
whole farm and livestock production practice and cost data.
Data collected for the whole farm include operating characteristics, production
practices, farm business financial information, and information the farm operator's
household, such as off-farm income. Financial information includes receipts
from crop and livestock sales, production contracts, and government payments.
Data are collected on expenses incurred in operating the farm, including the
inputs necessary for crop and livestock production, and general farm business
expenses, including repairs and maintenance, taxes, insurance and rent, and
utilities that cannot be associated with a specific farm enterprise. Information
on assets used in the farm operation (including those assets that are owned
and those not wholly owned but operated by the farm) and liabilities incurred
in operating the farm is also collected. In addition data on nonfarm and farm-related
income, and nonfarm assets are collected for the farm operator's household.
Summary data on farm structure and farm businesses and their finances are
available for production years beginning in 1996. Estimates of sector business
and financial data include national and State income estimates and asset, debt,
and balance sheet data.
Farm-Level Land Use and Tenure
Land-use and tenure data collected for the whole farm differ from data collected
in Phase II at the field level. Each crop enterprise is recorded here, as
are the details of crop use, tenure, rental arrangements, production, and
program participation.
Farm Business Income
Also recorded at the whole-farm level are data needed to capture sources of
income coming to the farm. These include obvious items like receipts from
crop and livestock sales, production contracts, and government payments,
but also unusual or episodic receipts, such as machine hire or custom work,
sale of machinery or equipment, and income from activities in the previous
year. Home consumption of goods produced on the farm allows adjustments to
income to be made. In addition to the total amount of receipts, their distribution
to all those with an interest in the farm business is also recorded.
Farm Business Expense
Data on expenses incurred in operating the farm across all enterprises (beyond
the expenses recorded for any fields surveyed in Phase II) are collected
in ARMS Phase III.
In addition to the inputs necessary for crop production, such as are collected
at the field level, Phase III collects data on repairs and maintenance, taxes,
insurance and rent, and utilities that cannot be associated with a specific
farm enterprise. Data on capital improvements are also recorded.
Farm Business Finances
Financial attributes of the farm are collected in ARMS Phase III. These include
three general categories of data: (1) information on assets used in the farm
operation (including those assets that are owned and those not wholly owned
but operated by the farm), (2) liabilities incurred in operating the farm,
and (3) information on the owners of all types of assets. The distributions
of ownership are needed to match the distributions of income flowing from
the operation.
Farm Households
Data on farm households, encompassing both the farm business and other economic
activity engaged in by farm household members, are reported in the Farm and
Operator Households: Structure and Finance, and the Featured States sections
of this tool. Information on detailed farm and household types is classified
within the ERS Farm Typology.
Methodology
Each farm sampled in the ARMS represents a known number of farms with similar
attributes, so that weighting the data for each farm by the number of farms
it represents provides a basis for calculating estimates for the target population.
Whole-farm survey weights are adjusted to provide coverage of official USDA
farm numbers at the national and regional levels. The weights have also been
adjusted to provide coverage of official USDA estimates of the production
of major crops and livestock. The target population for the whole-farm survey
is all U.S. farms in the 48 contiguous States. A farm is defined as any place
from which $1,000 or more of agricultural products (crops and livestock)
were sold or normally would have been sold during the survey year.
The financial information was prepared based on the accounting methods recommended
by the Farm Financial Standards Council. In addition, selected financial information
including farm operator household income, is provided for farm operator households
and family farms.
For additional information on ARMS, see ARMS
Documentation.
Get the Survey questionnaires and
manuals.
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