On December 1, 2022, the PSPA lecture was entitled “Data-Driven Planning in Agriculture: USDA AMS Specialty Crops Market News with Joseph D. Harrison (SCMN) Reporter”.   More than 25 members and guests attended the meeting at the Union League including students and their supervisor from Lankenau High School and an Ecudoran intern at USDA.  Cristiana Mele, Consul General for Italy, attended and offered brief comments on US and Italian agriculture.

For 100 years, the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) of the USDA has provided free, unbiased price and sales information to assist in the marketing and distribution of farm commodities. Each year, Market News issues thousands of reports, providing the industry with key wholesale, retail and shipping data.  The reports give farmers, producers and other agricultural businesses the information they need to evaluate market conditions, identify trends, make purchasing decisions, monitor price patterns, evaluate transportation equipment needs and accurately assess movement.

Our speaker was Joe Harrison who specializes in gathering information of specialty crops and reports on it in Market News.  Mr. Harrison will share the processes for how Market News is produced as well as reflecting on its use in crop and business planning.

Q and A was spirited with the students present showing their understanding of the supply and demand systems for food in the US and lots of questions about the limits of AMS data gathering at the local level.