The USDA is implementing AI and satellite monitoring to assess the harvest.

Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced the department's plans to update the methodology for assessing the agricultural sector. The decision was made following a series of meetings with representatives of farmer groups who expressed dissatisfaction with the quality of current government statistics. Criticism of the National Agricultural Statistics Service intensified after significant discrepancies between initial and final corn harvest estimates in 2025, as well as against the backdrop of staff reductions at the agency.

As part of a pilot project, the ministry intends to leverage the capabilities of artificial intelligence and machine learning. In collaboration with NASA and other federal agencies, plans are underway to improve the use of satellite imagery for field analysis. It is expected that integrating new technologies with data from farmer surveys will reduce the volume of regular reporting that farmers are required to submit to the ministry, while simultaneously increasing the timeliness and reliability of statistical data.

The agency also promised to make data collection processes more transparent: farmers will be provided with more information on the methodologies used, survey response rates, and the limitations of the models employed. Brooke Rollins emphasized the need to restore confidence in government reports, which directly influence market prices, producer incomes, and the implementation of federal agricultural programs.

This year, farmers have faced pressure due to declining grain prices, rising costs for fertilizer and diesel fuel, and the consequences of administration policies, including issues related to beef imports. USDA representative Harry Fones stated that meetings with agricultural producers regarding data modernization will continue throughout the autumn.