ARMS Usage by the Federal Reserve Bank Nancy Novack Center for the Study of Rural America Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City December 4, 2003

ARMS Usage by the Federal Reserve Bank Data used by the Center: –Farm financial data –Farm business data –Farm structure data –Farm household data

ARMS Usage by the Federal Reserve Bank Publications Economic Review Main Street Economist Monetary Policy Briefings General Tracking and Updating

ARMS Usage by the Federal Reserve Bank Pros of ARMS data Typology/Region specific Sample size Breadth of information Cons of ARMS data Dated Some information only found periodically in publications

ARMS Usage by the Federal Reserve Bank Characteristics of valuable data from our point of view Timely Consistent through time Quickly accessible Available in interactive databases

ARMS Usage by the Federal Reserve Bank What else would be useful? State-level data and even more specific –Fed banks are regional –Resource regions are broad Focus on the marketing end –Risk management –Value added initiatives –Variations by resource availability Forward-looking