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Implications of US agricultural data practices for sustainable food systems research

Nature Food volume 4, pages 213–217 (2023)Cite this article

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Abstract

Using the tenets of data feminism, we analyse the National Agricultural Statistics Service Quick Stats database — the primary repository of United States agricultural data. We identify unstated assumptions built into the database’s scaffolding through data collection, aggregation and dissemination practices, revealing how they facilitate granular analyses of agricultural topics historically judged as national priorities while leaving unilluminated many others of vital importance for contemporary sustainability needs. We argue that this entrenches an inequitable and unsustainable food systems status quo, and we offer recommendations for data providers and users based on principles of reflexivity, context and pluralism.

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Data availability

The companion data product to this Perspective is available at https://github.com/blschum/ag-data-4-sustfoodsys-research, where we have taken one CoA variable and cleaned it from its original to tidy form to demonstrate the kind of data accessibility we envision in this paper. We are committed to open data science and to making research more reproducible.

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Acknowledgements

We thank C. Coleman for providing helpful comments on an early version of the manuscript. B.L.S. was partially supported by USDA NIFA Grant Number 2021-69012-35916. A.R. and E.K.B. were partially supported by USDA NIFA Grant Number 2020-67019-31157. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the view of the USDA.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Sustainability, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA

    Andrea Rissing

  2. Department of Environmental Sciences, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Emily K. Burchfield

  3. Department of Geography, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA

    Kaitlyn A. Spangler

  4. Department of Plants, Soils and Climate and Ecology Center, Utah State University, Logan, UT, USA

    Britta L. Schumacher

Authors
  1. Andrea Rissing
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  2. Emily K. Burchfield
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  3. Kaitlyn A. Spangler
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  4. Britta L. Schumacher
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Contributions

A.R. led the writing and editing. A.R. and E.K.B. developed the analysis. K.A.S. and B.L.S. contributed to the analysis. E.K.B., K.A.S. and B.L.S. contributed to the writing and editing. B.L.S. prepared the companion data document. All authors approved the final version.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Andrea Rissing.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Nature Food thanks Katie Dentzman, Ryanne Pilgeram and Ivette Perfecto for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Rissing, A., Burchfield, E.K., Spangler, K.A. et al. Implications of US agricultural data practices for sustainable food systems research. Nat Food 4, 213–217 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-023-00711-2

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