ARMS Farm Financial and Crop Production Practices
What Is the Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS)?
The Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS) is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's primary source of information on the production practices, resource use, and economic well-being of America’s farms and ranches. The results of this survey give farmers, ranchers, and many others factual insights into many aspects of farming, ranching, and conditions in agricultural communities.
Access ARMS Data
Users can view and download data that summarize production practices, resource use, and financial well-being across different types of farms and ranches.
- Crop Production Practices
Status and trends in crop production practices for several field crops. To access these data, see Tailored reports: Crop Production Practices. Data were last updated April 23, 2015, reflecting the 2013 survey. - Farm Structure and Finance
Structure and financial status and performance of U.S. farm operators, their households, and farm businesses. ERS has released a new ARMS data dissemination tool developed in response to stakeholder feedback. The tool allows for more interaction with the ARMS data, includes charting capability, and has an application program interface (API) for direct queries. Data were last updated December 10, 2019, to include 2018 data.
Errata: On December 10, 2019, the data found in "Tailored Reports: Farm Structure and Finance" was revised to correct an error in the calculation of average and median net farm income estimates for 2012-17. Revised net farm income estimates impact all "subject" and "filter" selections for average and median net farm income, 2012-17. Estimates of U.S. average net farm income, for example, are revised downward by -4.5 to -8.8 percent across the 6 years, lowering these estimates by $1,858 to $4,409. The error was restricted to the underlying calculation of the net farm income variable alone; no other data values were affected within the income statement. However, net farm income is a component in the calculation of a subset of financial ratios also found in the tailored reports. Thus, the reported rate of return on assets, rate of return on equity, operating profit margin, and term debt coverage ratio estimates for 2012-17 are revised as well.
- Tailored reports: Farm Structure and Finance
- ARMS application program interface (API)
- A bulk data file provides an extract of summary data for 2018. The file contains national estimates for each of the tailored reports across all available categories of farm types and operator characteristics; additional years are available upon request from the ERS ARMS Team. Complete State-level data can be obtained through the API.
- Short videos are available that introduce the ARMS webtool and run through a few API examples.
