Variance Estimation With USDA's Farm Costs and Returns Surveys and Agricultural Resource Management Study Surveys.

Abstract

USDA's annual Farm Costs and Returns Surveys and Agricultural Resource Management Study surveys apply complex stratified, multiple-frame, probability-weighted, and sometimes multiple-phase sampling methods to provide financial measures of the agricultural sector. This paper is an overview of survey estimators, sample design, hypothesis testing, disclosure rules, and reliability measures for the two surveys followed by statistical program documentation. Sums, ratios, means, multiple regression, binomial logit analysis, and order statistics are covered.