Mid-year statistics | Ten American reports suspended after $1.9 billion trimmed from U.S. agriculture budget
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Reuters) — Budget cuts have forced the U.S. Department of Agriculture to suspend the publication of 10 statistical reports or series for the rest of the fiscal year.
The mid-year cattle report was arguably the most prominent report to get the axe, and reaction from livestock traders and groups ranged from concern to indifference.
Others, from milk producers to craft beer brewers, expressed worry about losing key information that is often used to guide business decisions and help make a case for bank loans.
Read Also
Manitoba beekeepers battle for survival
Honeybee colony losses have hit 43 per cent, making 2025 the latest in a string of poor bee survival years for Manitoba’s honey producers
Approximately $1.9 billion in USDA funding was eliminated by the automatic cuts, known as sequestration, which took effect March 1.
The USDA has warned it may lay off meat inspectors for 11 or 12 days in the current fiscal year because of the cuts and that one-third of its 100,000 workers may be affected.
However, this is the first time it has chronicled a specific impact on its production of data.
“The decision to suspend these reports … was necessary, given the funding situation,” the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service said in a news release March 12. NASS said the reports were suspended through Sept. 30, the end of this fiscal year.
Jim Robb, an economist at the Livestock Marketing Information Center, lamented the loss.
Last July’s herd count by the USDA showed ranchers had abruptly reversed plans to produce more beef, he said.
“If we don’t have that timely mid-year look, you really have a hard time looking at the industry in very much detail.”
However, Rich Nelson, chief strategist with Allendale Inc., said the industry would be able to cope.
“Few in the industry, besides long-term numbers crunchers, pay attention to the report,” he said.
“Also, the July report is not really the one that shows the full range of information that we look at. In general, we can kind of deduce these numbers without the July survey.”
Joe Ocrant, president of Oak Investment Group in Chicago, agreed.
“In 43 years of trading, I have never known the semi-annual cattle report to be a market mover and rarely is the data a shocker,” he said.
“I don’t think it’s going to make any difference to fundamental traders, which I am one of.”
The USDA said it aimed to provide “the strongest data in service to agriculture” while complying with budget cuts.
The National Milk Producers Federation bemoaned losing a monthly production report, which it said would “detrimentally affect how decisions are made about the marketing of milk, starting at, but not ending with, the farm level.”
“We will need to have further discussions with USDA about why a major informational tool involving a major commodity is being affected this way,” said Christopher Galen, the federation’s senior vice-president of communications.
Also upset was a group representing more than 2,000 craft beer brewers, which will lose all hops estimates for the rest of the fiscal year and is bracing for more volatile prices for the critical brewing ingredient.
“Without the public reporting, the growers are operating in the dark, and that has the potential to disrupt supplies,” said Chris Swersey, technical brewing projects co-ordinator for the Brewers Association.
During past budget crunches, NASS has said its most important data included its monthly crop report and agricultural prices report, the quarterly grains stocks report, the annual prospective plantings report issued in late March and the planted acreage report issued at the end of June. Production of those reports will continue.
