Today’s guest is Joe Parsons, administrator of USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service.
Parsons joins Tony St. James to discuss how NASS is changing the way farmers and agribusinesses access USDA agricultural data. He explains the new Ag Insights platform, the agency’s move away from static reports and plans for technology that could eventually allow users to type or speak a question and retrieve the statistics they need.
The conversation also covers why NASS moves carefully when modernizing market-sensitive statistics, the continuing importance of producer survey participation and Parsons’ four decades with the agency.