WebJunction

Overview

The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) "administers programs that facilitate the efficient, fair marketing of U.S. agricultural products, including food, fiber, and specialty crops."  With the rising prices of food and increasing possibility of famine in parts of the world, information produced by AMS allows for strategic planning to meet the challenges that face the market.

Key Resources

• Agricultural statistics
  Marketing and Trade of agricultural products relies greatly on the supply and demand statistics. Agricultural statistics is published annually "to meet the diverse need for a reliable reference book on agricultural production, supplies, consumption, facilities, costs, and returns" by the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and various USDA agencies.  Statistics are broken down by type of crop or animal and are available in Adobe Acrobat PDF (Portable Document Format) files.  The entire publication is book-length so it is best to use either the table of contents or the index to point to the specific information you need.
   
• Farmers Markets
  Farmers Markets have gained popularity due to an increase in consumers desire to obtain fresh produce that is locally grown.  The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) provides a portal to wholesale and farmers market information that includes an interactive page to Find a Farmers Market near you, view a graph on the growth of farmers markets, learn how farmers markets benefit small farmers, consumers and the community as well as nutrition programs such as Women, Infants and Children (WIC) and seniors.
   
• Organic Foods
  The National Organic Program (NOP) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture "develops, implements, and administers national production, handling, and labeling standards for organic agricultural products."  Here you can learn about accredited certifiers, get organic labelling information, view a list of allowed and prohibited products, and search the NOP Reading Room to access orders and opinions related to organic products.

• Price Support
  AMS has provided price and sales support for the marketing and distribution of farm commodities for over 90 years.  Their reports "include information on prices, volume, quality, condition, and other market data on farm products in specific markets and marketing areas" and "cover both domestic and international markets."  The information is posted on the Internet within hours of collection so that users have the most up to date information available.