PURPOSE
The Prices Paid survey for agricultural chemicals, fuels, feed, fertilizer, new machinery, and seed provides U.S. and specified Regional average prices. Monthly Prices Paid Indexes measure the relative change in level of prices paid by farmers and ranchers for components of farm inputs, interest, taxes, wage rates, and family living items, as compared to similar Prices during a base period, 1910-14=100 and 1990-92=100.
COVERAGE
The Prices Paid survey is conducted in the 48 contiguous states. The items covered by the survey differ between states, as not all states survey all six categories. Approximately 135 items are surveyed to represent production input items Purchased by farmers and ranchers.
CONTENT
The Prices Paid survey for agricultural chemicals, fuels, feed, fertilizer, new machinery, and seed provides U.S. and regional average prices. Businesses are asked for the average Price paid by farmers for recent sales. The U.S. average prices are used to calculate base month component and subcomponent indexes of the Prices Paid Index for Production Items to measure the relative change in prices paid for various component groups of items used in agricultural production.
The overall Prices Paid Index for Commodities and Services, Interest, Taxes, and Farm Wage Rates (PPITW) is composed of five major groups: 1) prices paid for family living items, 2) prices paid for farm production items, 3) interest paid and interest rate on farm indebtedness, 4) taxes on farm real estate, and 5) wage rates paid to hired farm labor. The production items represent about 67 percent of the overall index, while family living accounts for about 19 percent, and interest, taxes, and wage rates 14 percent.
FREQUENCY
The Prices Paid survey is conducted every April. Prices Paid Indexes are updated in other months using producer Price Indexes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) sources. An annual summary is released in mid-July of the following year.
METHODS
The target population is retail outlets or establishments where farmers purchase farm production inputs in the 48 states. The prices paid data are obtained from a survey panel of approximately 8,500 businesses. These firms are selected from lists by type of item sold. Survey response rates are 75 to 80 percent. Firms are asked to report the price for the specified item "most commonly bought by farmers" or that was the "volume seller." The survey reference period for most items is 5 business days centered around the 15th of the month. Average prices reported are aggregated to the region and U.S. level using weights available from expenditure data and other sources. The changes in price level for individual items are combined to the regional and U.S. levels and published as indexes referenced to a base period. Monthly prices paid indexes are updated using selected BLS Producer Price Indexes.
PRODUCTS
The monthly Agricultural Prices report contains Prices Paid indexes, including component and subcomponent indexes. Specific U.S. and regional price estimates from the Prices Paid surveys are published in the April report. Feeder livestock price estimates, feed-price ratios, and current Prices Paid Indexes are published each month. January, April, July, and October reports provide revised data tables (4 years to current) for all indexes. The Agricultural Prices Summary for the previous year, issued in July, provides a recent history of U.S. and regional prices, feed-price ratios, and component and subcomponent indexes and will contain all revisions to the indexes.
USES
Prices paid indexes are used to compute Parity Prices under the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 as amended, Title III, Subtitle A, Sections 301a. The Agricultural Marketing Service uses state milk marketing orders, prices paid indexes, and import prices to determine support prices.
Private grazing fee data are published annually in the January Agricultural Prices under an agreement with the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management. Private grazing fees, the November-October average beef cattle price, and the Beef Cattle Production Index (1964-68=100) are used to determine the federal grazing fee lease rate under the Public Rangeland Improvement Act.
Average prices for selected machinery, fertilizer and chemical, Petroleum products, and retail seeds are used by the Economic Research Service for annual cost of production budgets under the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990. These data series are essential for reliable estimates of costs for wheat, feed grains, cotton, tobacco, sugar and dairy.
The long-term prices paid estimates are used extensively by universities, market researchers, and other sectors for economic analysis relating to farm income and alternative marketing policies.
SPECIAL FEATURES
RELATED PROGRAMS
Prices Received and Prices Received Indexes
Agricultural Resource Management, Phase III
Last modified: 06/03/09
Remotely Sensed Data
- C-FARE Review of the Agricultural Prices Program
- C-FARE Review of the 2002 Census of Agriculture
- NAS Review of the ARMS Program
