Program description
The Agriculture Statistics Programs maintained by the three countries are based on a mixture of surveys, censuses and administrative sources. Browse the sections below to learn more about the programs in each country.
Canada
The Canadian Agriculture Statistics Program collects, compiles, analyzes and publishes a wide range of information on the agricultural sector in Canada and in the individual provinces. The program includes biennial, annual and seasonal surveys on crops, horticulture, livestock, farm finances, and aquaculture, as well as a Census of Agriculture conducted every five years. In addition, to reduce respondent burden and survey cost wherever possible, administrative data from federal and provincial governments and agencies, marketing boards and producer organizations are used in place of agriculture surveys. The Agriculture Statistic Program is undergoing a major transformation. The long-term vision of the agricultural statistical program is to reduce response burden on farmers to as close to zero as possible while continuing to provide the same high-quality statistical information that Canadians expect.
The agriculture data programs vary in size and content. The large regular programs are:
- The Field Crop Reporting Series that has six occasions per year to collect information on seeding intentions, area seeded, yield, production and stocks of grains and oilseeds. The program is comprised of four surveys and two model based occasions, which use administrative, agroclimatic and earth observation data.
- The Livestock Survey conducted in January and July every year to collect inventories of cattle, hogs and sheep.
- The biennial Farm Financial Survey conducted in the summer to collect information about revenues, expenses and properties, as well as physical characteristics.
- The Fruit and Vegetables Survey conducted in November to collect area and production of fifty different fruits and vegetables.
- The annual Greenhouse, Sod and Nursery Survey conducted in January to obtain a view of the general economic situation within these industries.
Smaller surveys and administrative data-based programs cover topics such as monthly grain marketing statistics, maple production, mushrooms, honey, potatoes, monthly dairy production, monthly poultry and egg statistics, stocks of meat, aquaculture, wool, forage seed usage and fertilizer shipments. In addition, a Farm Update Survey is conducted regularly, principally to verify potential births to be added to the Business Register and to the survey frames. This survey makes use of tax return forms and administrative lists to identify units with a high probability of being new farms.
Finally, occasional surveys are conducted on a cost recovery basis in response to specific requirements from other government agencies or external clients. Although most are one-time surveys, their scope is rarely negligible. The Farm Environment Management Survey and the Agricultural Water Survey are examples.
The Census of Agriculture is another, large component of the Agriculture Statistics Program. The Census of Agriculture is generally conducted every five years in Canada. The primary objective of the Census of Agriculture is to collect information about the inventories and acreage from all agricultural operations in Canada. In addition, the Census also collects information about emerging issues of importance for the agriculture industry, including information on farm management practices, renewable energy production, direct marketing and succession planning. The Census of Agriculture is often used industry associations, policymakers and farmers to get detailed information on agricultural activities at the sub-provincial level.
The Agriculture Statistics Program is completed by the annual Tax Data Program, the Farm Income Statistics Program, Remote Sensing and Geospatial Analysis and agriculture research.
United States
The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) conducts hundreds of surveys every year and prepares reports covering virtually every aspect of U.S. agriculture. Production and supplies of food and fiber, prices paid and received by farmers, farm labor and wages, farm finances, chemical use, and changes in the demographics of U.S. producers are only a few examples.
NASS is committed to providing timely, accurate, and useful statistics in service to U.S. agriculture. To uphold our continuing commitment, NASS will:
- Report the facts on American agriculture, facts needed by people working in and depending upon U.S. agriculture.
- Provide objective and unbiased statistics on a preannounced schedule that is fair and impartial to all market participants.
- Conduct the Census of Agriculture every five years, providing the only source of consistent, comparable, and detailed agricultural data for every county in America.
- Serve the needs of our data users and customers at a local level through our network of State field offices and our cooperative relationship with universities and State Departments of Agriculture.
- Safeguard the privacy of farmers, ranchers, and other data providers, with a guarantee that confidentiality and data security continue to be our top priorities.
1. Crop Statistics Program
Surveys conducted by NASS vary in size and scope. The Agricultural Surveys are the major source of data for estimates of crop acreage, yield, production, and quantities of grains and oilseeds stored on farms. The surveys are conducted quarterly in March, June, September, and December. Farmers’ planting intentions are collected in March, acres planted and acres expected for harvest are collected in June, final acreage, yield, and production information for small grains is collected in September, and row crop and hay final acreage, yield, and production are collected in December. Information on grains and oilseeds stored on the farm for major commodities are collected in all four quarters, while specialty crops are collected annually in selected producing states.
An Agricultural Yield Survey provides farmer reported survey data of expected crop yields used to forecast and estimate crop production levels throughout the growing season. The survey is conducted monthly from May through November. Small grains data are collected from May through August. Row crop data are collected from August through November. Hay yield data are collected in August and October with hay stocks collected in May. Tobacco data are collected from May through November. Objective Yield measurement surveys are conducted during the same periods for corn, soybeans, wheat, and in major producing states. Other surveys varying in frequency include the Floriculture survey and the Citrus Fruit survey. Selected Non-Citrus Fruit and Tree Nut crops are surveyed and forecast during the growing season with follow-up survey data gathered at the end of the season for final estimates. Vegetable crops are only surveyed and estimated at the end of each season.
2. Livestock Statistics Program
Livestock surveys on an annual basis vary in frequency, size, and scope of data. The Broiler Hatchery survey of the number of eggs placed in hatcheries for broiler production is conducted weekly, also in the monthly report. Every month, NASS releases data for Cattle on Feed inventory, Chickens and Eggs production, Cold Storage volume, Dairy Products production, Egg Products production, Livestock Slaughter production, Milk Production in 24 published states, Poultry Slaughter production, and Turkey Hatchery eggs placed in hatcheries. Quarterly reports for Colony Loss are conducted in January, April, June, and October; Hogs and Pigs are conducted in March, June, September, and December. Bi-annually surveys account for Cattle inventory in January and July; Catfish production in February and July; Turkeys Raised in February and September. Annual surveys conducted are Honey (March), Mink (July), Sheep and Goats (January), Trout (February) the Cattle inventory report is released.
3. Environmental, Economics, and Demographics Statistics Program
The Environmental, Economics and Demographics Program includes a wide variable of statistical data products. Economic data products include agricultural prices and prices indexes, agricultural labor, farm production expenditures, chemical use, cash receipts, cash rents, farm numbers and land in farms, grazing fees, and land values. The Agricultural Prices Report is monthly; Agricultural Labor is release bi-annually; and the other data products are released annually. Some of the Environmental and Demographic data products are the Census of Agriculture and follow-on surveys, special cooperative surveys, computer use, and more.
4. Census of Agriculture
The Census of Agriculture is conducted every 5 years. Special follow-on surveys include the Census of Horticultural Specialties, Local Foods, Organics, Census of Aquaculture, irrigation and Water Management Systems, and the Tenure, Ownership and Transition of Agriculture Land Survey. Most follow-on releases follow the 5-year Census of Agriculture release cycle.
Mexico
Mexico’s agricultural statistics program provides a wide range of information on the agricultural sector. The information is produced by two institutions; on the one hand, the Ministry of Agriculture, through the Agrifood and Fisheries Information Service (SIAP for its acronym in spanish), collects, integrates, validates, analyzes and publishes statistical and geospatial information obtained from production units and administrative records, as well as through Geographic Information Systems (GIS), GPS technology and satellite images and unmanned aerial vehicles (drones). On the other hand, the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI for its acronym in Spanish) is exclusively responsible for carrying out the Agricultural Census, the last three of which were realized in 1991, 2007 and 2022. It also conducts the biannual National Agricultural Survey (ENA for its acronym in Spanish).
The ENA collects information on priority programs for the countryside, production for self-consumption, sales to collection centers, irrigation systems, quality and origin of water, use of fertilizers, use and degree of deterioration of tractors, labor in the field, credit in agricultural activities, problems reported by producers, social and demographic characteristics of those who manage and make the decisions in production units, among many other statistics.
The agricultural information generated by SIAP corresponds to a little more than 300 crops, of which 64 are monitored monthly and represent around 91% of the production value. Monthly information is published on the progress of sowing and harvesting, generating data on the area sown, harvested and damaged; production obtained and yield. At the end of the agricultural year, information on average rural prices and production value is included. Livestock information is published monthly for six species and six derivatives, including estimated and observed production, while the annual closing includes data on inventory; slaughtered animals; price per kilogram; weight; and value.
INEGI is making inroads in the exploitation of administrative records generated by institutions linked to the agricultural sector in order to update the Agricultural Census Framework and is exploring the use of satellite images to estimate crop areas, validate information obtained through censuses or surveys, etc. For its part, SIAP has systems for consulting updated geospatial information on the agricultural frontier, protected agriculture, estimation of the agricultural surface area of basic crops (corn, wheat, sorghum, beans and rice) and infrastructure of the agrifood sector.
CONTACT US
info.natcas@gmail.com
ABOUT NATCAS
Mandate
Participating agencies
History
Contact us
CONCEPTS AND DEFINITIONS
Program description
Definition of a farm
Statistical concepts
PARTNERSHIPS AND COLLABORATION
Agricultural census
Common releases
Remote sensing and GIS
Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)
DATA AND INDICATORS
Data hubs
Geospatial data tables
SDG Indicators
COLLABORATERS
Statistics Canada (StatCan)
National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) US Department of Agriculture (USDA)
Agricultural and Fisheries Information Service (SIAP)
National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI)

Disclamer
The information is presented as it is, and Statistics Canada, the National Agricultural Statistics Department of Agriculture of the United States, the Agricultural and Fisheries Information Service (SIAP) and the National Institute of Statics and Geography (INEGI), don’t offer any guarantees, express or implied, including but not limited to guarantees of marketing and adapt to a particular purpose. In any case the above agencies shall not be liable for any direct, special, indirect, consequential or other caused by the use of the information provided.