Prioritizing the use of data collected from USDA’s Risk Management Agency to calculate crop yields.

Using data from the county in which a farm is located when calculating yields, rather than allowing farmers to use yield data from their “administrative counties” if they farm in more than one county.

Allowing state Farm Service Agency committees to adjust yield estimates when results are inexplicably different compared to neighboring counties within the same state or adjacent counties across state lines.

Only about 60% of producers return NASS surveys, so it is difficult to assume accuracy of the data;

The NASS yield estimate comes from producer surveys and the RMA yield data comes from actual production history;

There is no penalty for failure to fill out a NASS survey or misreport submitted information.  However, farmers may face criminal penalties for filing an inaccurate crop production report for RMA; and

RMA reports all its county yields as irrigated or non-irrigated yields, whereas NASS does not.