Economic Research Service, USDA Policy Analysis with Integrated Rural/Farm Household Data Third International Conference on Agricultural Statistics, Cancun Mexico, November 2-4, 2004 Mitch Morehart, Jeffrey Hopkins, and James Johnson

Economic Research Service, USDA Complexity of Farm Household Structure

Economic Research Service, USDA Determinants of ARMS Content

Economic Research Service, USDA Stakeholder Involvement In Production Activities of U.S. Household-Farms Landlords--209,000 farmers rent land for a share of production; another 633,000 farmers rent land for cash Lenders--910,000 farmers owe debt at year-end; almost all use debt during the calendar year Hired Labor--632,000 farmers use hired labor Contract Entities--50,000 farmers grow agricultural commodities for other firms under a contract arrangement Partners--93,000 households organized their farm as a partnership Shareholders--65,000 households organized their farm as a family corporation Multiple Operator Households--145,000 farms are organized with multiple households providing production assets Of the 2.1 million U.S. farms:

Economic Research Service, USDA Modular Design Enables ARMS To Reflect Complex Farm Structure

Economic Research Service, USDA ARMS correctly assigns income and expenses to the different stakeholders

Economic Research Service, USDA Household income and wealth come from a variety of sources

Economic Research Service, USDA Policy Example 1: Savings, Income Volatility, and Basic Needs

Economic Research Service, USDA Policy Example 2: Farm Household Impacts from Policy Reform

Economic Research Service, USDA Policy Example 3 : On-farm Technology Adoption

Economic Research Service, USDA Implications ARMS data collection is driven by issues confronting households that operate farm establishments Data collection reflects measurement concepts for households, farm establishments, and the U.S. farm sector Issues confronting ARMS measurement system are dynamic Multiple income and wealth measures and changes in demand for data: imply need to collect data at the item and unit level of measurement Imply need to store data at item and unit level to enable use over time and across different issues and groups Household measures are developed within the context of the farm establishment to facilitate use in applied analyses