United States Department of Agriculture

WASHINGTON, Nov. 9, 2023 – Representatives from USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) and Economic Research Service (ERS) will be available for interviews at the annual National Association of Farm Broadcasting (NAFB) Trade Talk at the Westin Crown Center Hotel in Kansas City, Mo., on Thursday, Nov. 16.

WHAT: National Association of Farm Broadcasting’s 2023 Trade Talk

WHEN: 7:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. CT, Thursday, Nov. 16

WHERE: Booth 91, Westin Crown Center, 1 Pershing Road, Kansas City, Mo.

WHO:

Lance Honig, acting Agricultural Statistics Board Chair and Methodology Division director, USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service

• As acting Agricultural Statistics Board chair, Honig leads the preparation and dissemination of market-sensitive agriculture-related forecasts and estimates. As acting director, he provides leadership and oversight for the successful design, processing, and summarization of survey and census information.
• Learn more about the importance of NASS data, how it’s used, by whom, and more. Ask about the latest crop production report, other recently released data, and NASS’s upcoming surveys. Honig can also answer questions about NASS communications with the public including live Stat Chats on X, Agricultural Statistics Board Briefing livestreams and USDA Data Users’ Meetings.

Joe Prusacki, National Operations Division director, USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service

• As director of the National Operations Division for NASS, Prusacki is responsible for incoming and outgoing mail, four call centers, sampling frame maintenance, and the grain sample processing facility.
• Ask about the upcoming 2022 Census of Agriculture data release, the 2023 Census of Aquaculture and 2023 Irrigation and Water Management survey, and the upcoming Agricultural Resource Management Survey, USDA’s primary source of information on production practices, resource use, and the economic well-being of American farms.

Thomas Worth, Resource and Rural Economics Division director, USDA Economic Research Service

• As Resource and Rural Economics Division director for ERS, Worth leads research on conservation and land use, climate and energy, rural households and economy, farm finance, agricultural technology, productivity, and market structure.
• Stop by for new insights on ERS’ Rural America at a Glance report (due to publish Nov. 15), the latest statistics on U.S. farms, research on the adoption of digital agriculture technologies, and a variety of resources available to support your daily news coverage.