The Florida Field Office of USDA/NASS is the main agricultural data gathering agency in Florida with the purpose of collecting, compiling and publishing current statistics. This service is provided in cooperation with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS). A primary goal of NASS is to provide farmers, ranchers and other producers of agricultural commodities with unbiased and reliable information to assist them in making production and marketing decisions. Other important users of agricultural statistics are farm organizations, agribusiness and transportation firms, state and national policy makers, and foreign buyers of agricultural products.

The Florida Field Office, like all NASS field offices, submits recommendations to the national headquarters in Washington, D.C. Commodity experts review all State recommendations and issue State and National estimates to the public on scheduled release dates throughout the year. Cooperative agreements with State governments permit additional estimates to be made at the State and/or County level for some commodities. Farmers, ranchers and agribusinesses provide the data which are collected through a broad program of sample surveys throughout the year. Survey data are collected by mail or through interviews conducted by telephone or in person.

NASS also conducts the Census of Agriculture every five years. The Census, in which every known producer of agricultural commodities is contacted, is the most complete sources of data at the State and County level.

The Florida Field Office of USDA/NASS is located in Orlando . In addition to the approximately 35 employees in Orlando , FASS employs several people throughout the State to collect data, on a full or part-time basis. Most of the data collection work is done by enumerators, who are contracted through the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA).