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Staff reductions cut 27% at Economic Research Service and furloughs hit 90% at National Agricultural Statistics Service, raising doubts about USDA crop data reliability.

  • On Aug. 22, Pro Farmer released a 16.204 billion bushels estimate from the Pro Farmer Crop Tour's boots‑on‑the‑ground counts, setting a tour record but below USDA's outlook.
  • Agency staffing reductions and furloughs led traders and farmers to question US Department of Agriculture data quality amid a shutdown freezing much USDA data and delaying reports.
  • The tour's hand‑written counts stitched hundreds of imperfect samples from more than 1,600 fields, with participation falling to 14,900 farmers, and Pro Farmer economist Lane Akre said `Our opinion about the crop has not changed`.
  • Farm debt pressures mean farm debt nearing US$600 billion this year and an average cash price of US$3.89 leave debt-heavy growers with many acres below production costs.
  • US Department of Agriculture's halted sampling and scrapped Agricultural Labour Survey and Household Food Security Survey narrow benchmarks, while unclear job cuts this month add uncertainty to future data quality.
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Pearls and Irritations broke the news in on Wednesday, November 12, 2025.
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