ASB Notice

>NASS Modifies Agricultural Prices Program

Issued Nov. 17, 2014 by the Agricultural Statistics Board of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service. For more information, contact Tony Dorn at tony.dorn@nass.usda.gov or (202) 690-3223

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) is modifying the Agricultural Prices program. Changes include:

  • Only full month prices will be published starting in January 2015. Preliminary prices will be discontinued after December 2014. The January 2015 Agricultural Prices report will contain price data for December 2014, November 2014, and December 2013.
  • Adjusted base prices will be published in the February report instead of the January report. Parity prices are based on adjusted base prices and the parity index. The parity index for January will not be available until February.
  • The annual average group indexes published in the January report will be based on an annual weight rather than a simple average as in previous years. The simple average is influenced by changing monthly weights.

In each report, the most recent price will be the previous full month price, instead of the current preliminary or mid-month price. The Agricultural Price report will be published near the end of each the month to ensure critical previous month price data are included in the report.

For more information about the NASS Price Program, visit: http://www.nass.usda.gov/Surveys/Guide_to_NASS_Surveys/Prices/index.php

Agricultural prices data for 2014 and prior years are available at www.nass.usda.gov.

###

NASS is the federal statistical agency responsible for producing official data about U.S. agriculture and is committed to providing timely, accurate and useful statistics in service to U.S. agriculture.

USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer and lender. To file a complaint of discrimination, write to USDA, Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue, S.W., Stop 9410, Washington, DC 20250-9410, or call toll-free at (866) 632-9992 (English) or (800) 877-8339 (TDD) or (866) 377-8642 (English Federal-relay) or (800) 845-6136 (Spanish Federal-relay).