After a promise to streamline the gathering and delivery of USDA data, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins announced the USDA Data Modernization Plan on Tuesday at the Farm Progress Show in Boone, Iowa. Rollins laid out a new approach intended to “put farmers first” by improving how agricultural information is collected, reported, and used.
Rollins said the plan is designed to reduce unnecessary burdens on producers while increasing the timeliness, accuracy and usefulness of data that supports decisions across American agriculture. She said the modernization effort will rely on modern tools and streamline reporting, while also giving producers more of a voice in how USDA gathers and shares information.
“America’s farmers and ranchers are the backbone of our food and agricultural system, and USDA should respect their time while delivering the reliable information they need,” Rollins said. “This plan puts Farmers First by cutting burdensome red tape, using modern tools, and ensuring producers have a stronger voice.”
America’s farmers and ranchers are the backbone of our food and agricultural system. They deserve a @USDA that respects their time and delivers the reliable information they need.
— Secretary Brooke Rollins (@SecRollins) September 1, 2026
Our new Data Modernization Plan will cut burdensome red tape, use modern technology, protect… https://t.co/fvr6KDeqkr
USDA said the initiative builds on the department’s long-running role in collecting and sharing agricultural information, a mission tied to USDA’s establishment in 1862. Today, USDA data influences crop and livestock estimates, risk-management tools, disaster assistance, and other business decisions made by farmers, ranchers, agribusinesses, researchers, and policymakers.
Rollins issued a Request for Information in February 2026 seeking feedback on opportunities, challenges, and emerging areas in USDA data. The USDA also held listening sessions at state fairs and farm shows during August, where producers and other stakeholders provided input that helped shape the plan.
Four Pillars to the Plan
According to the USDA, the Data Modernization Plan rests on four pillars:
- Modernize the Data Reporting Experience
- Enhance Acreage and Yield Estimation:
- Integrate Data and Technology Platforms:
- Expand Trust and Transparency with Producers
First, USDA will modernize the data reporting experience by expanding use of administrative data, improving mobile access to surveys, exploring options for prefilled information, and strengthening coordination across the department to reduce duplicative requests.
Second, USDA will enhance acreage and yield estimation by piloting improved satellite imagery, geospatial tools, and crop models combined with producer-reported information. USDA said it will also evaluate optional field inputs to strengthen and “ground truth” yield estimates, while continuing yield research with partners and land-grant universities.
Third, the department will integrate data and technology platforms by modernizing technology infrastructure, expanding secure data-sharing capabilities, and evaluating responsible uses of artificial intelligence and machine learning. USDA said better-integrated systems would improve efficiency, reduce duplication, and support more timely, useful reporting.
Fourth, USDA said it will expand trust and transparency with producers by protecting privacy, explaining why information is requested and how it is used, and offering more opportunities for feedback. The department also said it will improve communications around reports, methodologies, response rates, and data limitations.
USDA leadership said implementation begins immediately. In an interview with Farm Journal earlier in August, Kip Tom, special adviser to the Trump administration for data modernization, said the plan breaks down outdated information silos and applies modern technology to provide better service.
“We Need to Make Sure NASS is the Gold Standard” in Reporting
Tom, the Indiana grower who went on to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture under the first Trump administration, has been given a new assignment and a tall task: modernize the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), the USDA agency responsible for the crop production, yield and acreage data that moves markets every season.
Farmer frustration over the accuracy of reports has come into focus over the past year. During a recent episode of “Unscripted,” Tom says he doesn’t put the blame on the employees currently running NASS. He says they don’t have sufficient tools to work with.
“There’s a lot of great people at NASS, but they don’t have the tools to really monitor our crops and see what the conditions are or predict yields,” Tom says.
That gap matters more than ever, he argues, because private companies and foreign competitors already have access to technology U.S. farmers don’t, including tasking satellites to estimate yields and trading ahead of American producers in global markets.
“There are private companies around the world that have access to technologies, whether they could be tasking satellites to understand what our yields are like and trade ahead of us into the marketplace,” Tom adds. “That’s a disadvantage to the American farmer.”
He compares it to the National Weather Service. Four or five decades ago, meteorologists collected temperature, barometric pressure and rainfall data by hand. Today it’s automated. He wants agriculture to get there too with passive, continuous data flowing off farms through satellites and equipment, rather than a farmer filling out a paper survey once a year.
“I think we got to get to the place in agriculture where we have passive data coming off farms, whether it’s by tasking these satellites, some that are, that have their own constellations up there. They can really predict yields at a very fine degree,” says Tom.
Why Tom Thinks the Current System is Breaking Down
The core problem, according to Tom, is farmer participation. Response rates on NASS surveys have fallen from around 80% two decades ago to somewhere between 25% and 40% today, depending on the report.
“That’s got to tell you we’ve got a problem here,” Tom says. “People don’t have the time for the reports. They’re not spending the amount of time they should have if they do complete them.”
He says the current collection method compounds the issue. Enumerators travel to farms with a clipboard and pencil, asking growers how many acres they planted and what they expect to yield, a process Tom says invites error. He recounted an incident from several years ago in which an enumerator was sent to collect a corn yield sample from what was actually a seed corn field, which typically yields far lower than commercial corn.
“I said, well, you know, that you’re using that as corn and it’s only kind of probably yield, maybe 75 to 100 bu. per acre. Why would you use that in your estimate to figure out what corn is yielding in our county, " Tom asks.
He also points to redundancy across agencies.
Farmers report acreage separately to USDA’s Risk Management Agency for crop insurance and to NASS for statistical purposes, often duplicating effort with no real benefit.
“Why are we reporting through all these different agencies or different departments or bureaus to get this information?” he asks. “We could have some savings for the taxpayer and farmers to make sure that we have this that doesn’t need to be coming from five sources.”
Tom said he expects to have a finalized plan and system in place by the end of the year, and he’s inviting input directly, he gave out his email address (kiptom@tomfarms.com) on the record, asking farmers with ideas to reach out.
