Strategic Plan 

Fiscal Years 2022-2026 
National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) Strategic Plan FY2022 – FY2026 1

Table of Contents

Table of Contents............................................................................................................................................1

Message from the Administrator....................................................................................................................2

Mission Statement................................................................................................................................................... 3

2026 Strategic Vision Statement .............................................................................................................................. 3

Core Values.............................................................................................................................................................. 3

Civil Rights Commitment.......................................................................................................................................... 3

About USDA-NASS ..........................................................................................................................................4

Summary of Strategic Plan..............................................................................................................................5

Workforce Transformation .............................................................................................................................6

Objective 1.1: Increase employee professional growth and development, satisfaction, engagement, innovative thoughts, 

through a diverse workforce that is reflective of the American people. ......................................................................................... 6

Objective 1.2: Appropriately size, recruit, and train the workforce................................................................................................. 7

Objective 1.3: Develop strategic workforce planning capabilities to support transition from traditional survey data collection to 

in-depth integration of survey data with alternative sources and methods.................................................................................... 7

Exceptional Customer Experience ...................................................................................................................8

Objective 2.1: Incorporate new data sources and data collection techniques that are focused on the needs of the user to 

reduce respondent burden, ease reporting barriers, and increase sample coverage, while maintaining confidentiality and 

privacy. ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 8

Objective 2.2: Increase effectiveness of stakeholder engagement.................................................................................................. 9

Objective 2.3: Raise the awareness of and use of NASS products and services............................................................................... 9

Organizational Excellence .............................................................................................................................10

Objective 3.1: Create new, modern business processes to produce quality data and products at a faster rate...........................10

Objective 3.2: Mature, expand, and enforce enterprise-level strategic and program management processes and tools to guide 

data-driven decision-making.......................................................................................................................................................... 10

Objective 3.3: Mature ability to manage risk and ensure that proven effective internal controls are built into every process and 

system. ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 11
National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) Strategic Plan FY2022 – FY2026 2

Message from the Administrator

I believe everyone recognizes the need to modernize our 

agency processes and procedures and update our 

infrastructure to meet the growing demands of our data 

providers and data users. Therefore, we must commit to 

modernize our systems, perform better data analysis, 

improve data dissemination, and improve communication 

and engagement with our customers. For us to be 

successful in these endeavors all NASS employees must 

join together in shaping our future. I recognize the 

outstanding commitment and hard work that NASS staff 

are already performing daily despite staff shortages and 

heavy workloads, which we are working diligently to 

resolve. However, it is imperative that we continue to 

work towards more efficient ways to carry out our 

mission.

I am excited to put the NASS Strategic Plan: FY2022 –

FY2026 in place as a road map in planning the future of 

NASS. This plan is anchored in three strategic goals: 

Workforce Transformation, Exceptional Customer 

Experience, and Organizational Excellence. These 

initiatives align with the Secretary's goals to improve 

customer service and access to data, and to modernize 

IT infrastructure. These initiatives also serve as the 

focal point for this new and broader Agency Strategic 

Plan defining the future vision for NASS. 

I hope that you will join me and the rest of the Senior 

Executive Team in championing this plan as we seek to 

promote NASS as the premier source of comprehensive 

agricultural data and reports that data providers and 

users trust to meet their changing needs.

Thanks for your valued commitment to making NASS a 

great place to work.

Hubert Hamer
National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) Strategic Plan FY2022 – FY2026 3

Mission Statement

We provide timely, accurate and useful statistics in service to United States agriculture.

2026 Strategic Vision Statement

NASS is recognized as a modern, innovative, customer-focused organization that readily adopts cuttingedge technologies and engages its world-class workforce to produce the most trusted, useful statistics 

on all aspects of U.S. agriculture.

Core Values

• Trust among data providers: NASS will continue the relationship of mutual respect and our legal 

pledge of confidentiality with our respondents who provide their personal and agricultural data in 

support of U.S. agriculture. 

• Credibility among data users: NASS will maintain credibility with our data users by issuing 

complete and accurate statistical information about agriculture. 

• Objectivity of Statistics: NASS will produce and disseminate statistical information on an 

equitable and transparent basis, so the public understands that the data are objective and 

impartial. 

• Relevance to Policy Issues: We will remain knowledgeable about the issues and requirements of 

the agriculture industry, public policy, and Federal programs, and will remain able to provide 

objective, accurate, and timely information relevant to those needs. 

• Commitment to Service: Each USDA-NASS employee and representative is committed to these 

core values and takes great pride in working together to serve American farmers and ranchers, 

rural communities, and all who rely on the information we produce. 

Civil Rights Commitment

NASS cultivates an inclusive workplace environment where the unique qualities, experiences, and talents 

of every employee are valued, nurtured, and appreciated. Treating all employees, job applicants, and 

customers with fairness, equality, and respect is a core agency value. 

Consistent with USDA civil rights policies, NASS firmly enforces all federal civil rights laws, executive

orders, and regulations to ensure that the agency maintains a workplace free from discrimination. NASS 

has a comprehensive civil rights program that protects all employees, job applicants, and customers 

from harassment (sexual and non-sexual,) retaliation, and reprisal. NASS civil rights commitment makes

the agency a model employer, committed to preventing, stopping, and remedying all forms of 

discrimination including race, color, sex (including pregnancy, sexual harassment, sexual orientation, 

gender identity, or transgender status), national origin, religion, age (40 and above), disability (mental 

or physical), equal pay, genetic information, or retaliation.
National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) Strategic Plan FY2022 – FY2026 4

About USDA-NASS

Legislative Mandate

USDA was established in 1862 by President Abraham Lincoln to provide U.S. agricultural information to 

the United States government and the public. The first official report regarding crop conditions was 

published in July 1863. The original NASS mission continues today in the USDA forecasts and estimates 

publications released by the NASS Agricultural Statistics Board. NASS’s responsibilities are authorized 

under the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 (7 U.S.C. 1621-1627) and the Census of Agriculture Act of 

1997, Public Law 105-113 (7 U.S.C. 2204g). Public Law 105-113 transferred responsibility for the 

Census of Agriculture and other special studies from the Department of Commerce to USDA in November 

1997 and entrusted to NASS to perform. Conducted every five years, the census provides comprehensive 

information about the nation’s agriculture on a national, state, and county level basis. The agency 

maintains a current list of farms and ranches in the United States, one of its unique Federal roles. NASS 

also performs important reimbursable agricultural survey work for other Federal agencies, state 

governments, and producer organizations. NASS also provides technical assistance for agricultural 

statistics programs in developing countries.

Relationship with Partners, Customers, and Stakeholders

As the primary statistical agency for USDA, NASS has relationships with many partners, customers, and 

stakeholders whom we serve with data products and services, and who use and advocate for the data we 

produce. Among them are: 

• State departments of agriculture and land grant universities. Through cooperative agreements and 

memoranda of understanding dating back to 1917, NASS field offices serve jointly as the Federal 

field office and the state government agricultural statistical office. In this role, NASS provides data 

collection and statistical services to other agencies and provides statistics to the public through 

agreements with private producer organizations.

• The National Institute of Statistical Sciences, which brought together the best academic and NASS 

researchers to provide recommendations for modern day challenges facing the agricultural 

statistics program.

• More than 40 community-based organizations (CBOs), as well as countless local associations, 

facilitate USDA outreach to limited resource and historically underrepresented producers. These 

groups work with NASS staff to ensure their constituents are represented and that the census 

includes all farms and ranches, regardless of size, location, or type of operation. NASS also 

partners with these groups to provide hands-on assistance and support to local producers—

including non-English speakers—to complete their census forms. NASS targets media outreach 

that reaches small, minority, and non-English-speaking producers. 
National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) Strategic Plan FY2022 – FY2026 5

Summary of Strategic Plan

This strategic plan is the first step in an ongoing strategic and operational planning process. The 

strategic plan is anchored around three strategic goals. NASS will achieve these goals through goalspecific implementation strategies, with an emphasis on accountability and building evidence to inform 

decision-making.

• Strategic Goal 1: Workforce Transformation – Foster a diverse workforce to meet current and 

emerging needs.

• Strategic Goal 2: Exceptional Customer Service – Proactively strengthen relationships with data 

users, providers, and partners.

• Strategic Goal 3: Organizational Excellence – Operate as a strategic, integrated, efficient 

organization built on sound management practices and methodological principals.

These goals will lead the agency down a path in consolidating the many duplicative systems and 

processes it uses to achieve its mission to an enterprise-level solution for each of the core processes of 

data collection, editing, and dissemination by the end of FY26.

The NASS Strategic Planning Branch will track the implementation of the plan and ensure individual and 

office accountability for achieving our strategic goals.
National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) Strategic Plan FY2022 – FY2026 6

Strategic Goal 1

Workforce Transformation 

NASS’s long-term success is rooted in the hard work and dedication of a diverse and highly skilled 

workforce. Moving forward, the continued success of the organization is contingent on development of the 

existing workforce to meet the changing needs of customers. Accomplishing this requires a deliberate 

focus on training and retention in critical knowledge areas. Supporting transformational initiatives requires 

that the organization clearly identify capabilities, competencies, and emerging skills. Management must 

evaluate each opportunity to identify required skillsets and determine if current skillsets meet the need or 

if the organization is better served through hiring, re-training, or out-sourcing. Leadership will foster an 

environment of creativity and innovation, which optimally occurs when our workforce is diverse, and

where value is placed on new ideas and a focus on professional development.

Objective 1.1: Increase employee professional growth and development, satisfaction, 

engagement, innovative thoughts, through a diverse workforce that is reflective of the 

American people. 

Objective Collaborators: Office of the Administrator, Civil Rights Office, and Strategic Planning and 

Business Services Division

NASS will leverage the efforts of the FY21 Organizational Analysis and the FY22 Workforce Transformation 

Team to implement specific recommendations aligned with fostering a workforce that meets current and 

emerging trends. NASS will develop a customer-centric, inclusive, and high-performing workforce by 

investing in and engaging employees to improve the delivery of services through modernization of 

programs and innovative thinking. Employees will have a broad understanding of and input into the 

mission and strategic roadmap to move NASS forward. NASS will promote an inclusive and highperforming culture that is representative of all Americans and leverages a diverse and creative workforce 

to better serve customers. NASS will continue offering Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility

trainings and seminars to bolster these values across the agency. Finally, NASS will afford employees 

equal opportunities to increase their knowledge, skills, and abilities to meet both current and emerging 

needs.

Implementation Strategies

• Institutionalize employee engagement strategies, foster idea sharing, and ensure diverse 

perspectives are truly welcome throughout all agency functional units. 

• Develop an Employee Engagement SharePoint site for activities such as: access to an Employee 

Guidebook; Innovation Hub for employees to submit ideas to agency leadership; monthly 

engagement poll/surveys; peer-to-peer recognition; a place for employees to express interest in 

participating in a project team; and an employee skills repository.

• Use employee satisfaction and engagement surveys to increase the baseline measures by two 

percentage points per year.

• Leverage best practices and system changes that ensure the work environment is safe, respectful, 

inclusive, free from harassment, and enables all leaders and employees to cross-collaborate and do 

their best work.

• Implement leadership development training - soft skills, emotional intelligence, and servant 

leadership.
National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) Strategic Plan FY2022 – FY2026 7

Objective 1.2: Appropriately size, recruit, and train the workforce. 

Objective Collaborators: All Divisions and Staff Offices 

Using changing technologies and meeting customer demands require transformation of NASS processes to 

provide faster, more accessible, and diverse information. NASS must prepare for the changing work and 

skills needed by identifying the competencies required for success throughout various stages of 

transformation. Consequently, the FY2021- FY2025 Human Capital Management Plan is being

implemented to execute data-driven recruiting, hiring, attrition, and retirement analysis, while upskilling 

the current workforce. 

Implementation Strategies

• Implement “Future of Work” strategies that enable NASS to effectively oversee and implement 

staff, operations, and program delivery in a hybrid environment.

• Leverage the USDA’s DEIA strategic plan to enable NASS to hire, train, retain, and manage diverse 

talents who can serve and represent the communities we serve.

• Continue to review position descriptions and scope and complexity of duties to perform statistical 

and comparative analyses of NASS data and roles in relation to similar positions in the labor 

market.

• Strategically utilize existing alternative hiring sources, such as scholars’ programs, experienced 

worker programs, and other special hiring authorities as diverse talent pipelines to meet NASS’s

increasing skillset demands. 

• Establish measures of success and show an increase in established workforce transition targets 

over the five-year period. 

Objective 1.3: Develop strategic workforce planning capabilities to support transition from 

traditional survey data collection to in-depth integration of survey data with alternative 

sources and methods. 

Objective Collaborators: Office of the Administrator, Strategic Planning and Business Services 

Division, NASS Leadership

A transition from full survey based statistical products to those that can be transitioned to a hybrid 

alternative data/survey-based approach will take a cognizant effort from leadership to identify and close 

new skill gaps. An initial focus will be to establish an effective and repeatable process to assess the 

current workforce to identify the competency gaps. Once these approaches are honed, NASS will focus on 

predicting how business transformation will impact the workforce so that an informed transition can occur. 

NASS will utilize workforce decision support tools and dashboards to provide accurate information to 

leaders on full time employees (FTE) numbers, occupations, and competencies. 

Implementation Strategies

• Leverage strategic workforce planning predictive functions and dashboards to provide accurate 

information to leaders on full time employees (FTE) numbers, occupations, and competencies.

• Assess staff recruitment and selection practices as they relate to current workforce skills needs to 

develop partnerships and improved outreach strategies aimed at increasing access to the 

necessary workforce development opportunities.

• Invest in the modernization of the IT workforce to support a customer-center, data-driven 

environment. 
National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) Strategic Plan FY2022 – FY2026 8

Strategic Goal 2

Exceptional Customer Experience

NASS has long been the gold standard in providing timely, accurate, and useful statistics in service to U.S. 

Agriculture. As indicated by third party customer satisfaction surveys, its statistical products have exceeded 

customer expectations as the primary source of these type of data due to its engagement with stakeholders, 

and commitment to its core values of credibility and objectivity. But technology is advancing at a rapid pace 

and presents not only opportunities for NASS, but also threats. Threats where others could gain the capability 

to also produce relevant, timely, accurate, and useful agricultural statistics which could pose a potential threat 

to the agency’s credibility if those numbers are in conflict. Therefore, it is critical NASS modernize its 

technology so that it has all the tools at its disposal to produce statistical products that keep pace with 

modern capabilities and rising customer expectations to continue delivering gold standard value to producers, 

researchers, USDA policy makers, Congress, market analysts, agribusinesses, and other data users to make 

sound, informed decisions. 

Objective 2.1: Incorporate new data sources and data collection techniques that are focused on 

the needs of the user to reduce respondent burden, ease reporting barriers, and increase 

sample coverage, while maintaining confidentiality and privacy. 

Objective Collaborators: Census and Survey Division, Methodology Division, Office of the 

Administrator, Research and Development Division, and Strategic Planning and Business Services 

Division

NASS is committed to continually improving data collection and data products, while exploring ways to 

reduce respondent burden. Some of the methods include using alternate data sources for survey 

supplementation, moving toward increased Internet response, and enhancing data collection and products 

based on emerging customer needs. NASS will develop modernized disclosure-protection policies, 

procedures, and systems to support rigorous privacy protections for data providers, while ensuring timely

and efficient dissemination of accurate data products.

Implementation Strategies

• Utilize a human-centered design approach to enhance our interactive portal, providing survey 

respondents a pathway to respond to surveys and conduct business with other USDA agencies 

seamlessly and securely through farmers.gov authentication.

• Develop data products using alternative data sources with no additional respondent burden. 

• Continue to assess the potential to integrate precision agricultural and satellite imagery into 

business processes.

• Implement new business processes for surveys and/or products to include a step to review 

administrative and other sources of data before any new data collection effort.
National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) Strategic Plan FY2022 – FY2026 9

Objective 2.2: Increase effectiveness of stakeholder engagement. 

Objective Collaborators: Office of the Administrator and Strategic Planning and Business Services 

Division

NASS will enhance stakeholder engagement by leveraging technology, a diverse and geographically 

dispersed workforce, and digital communications to raise the perceived value of NASS products and 

services. 

Implementation Strategies

• Implement an expanded customer-centric public affairs strategy that reshapes stakeholder 

engagement at local and national levels by providing easily accessible and understandable data to 

improve the ag data user experience in making better informed agricultural community decisions.

• Integrate coordinated stakeholder engagement, diversity outreach, and customer feedback as 

standard practices in process improvement and program delivery.

• Determine if existing systems can be modified, or new systems created, to capture customer 

interactions across NASS.

• Continue to participate in customer satisfaction surveys, such as Foresee and the American 

Customer Satisfaction Index, and maintain an overall ASCI score that exceeds the government 

average.

• Implement storytelling training for staff that interact with stakeholders on a frequent basis.

• Implement the USDA Equity Action Plan to enable the USDA workforce to improve customer service 

in underserved communities.

Objective 2.3: Raise the awareness of and use of NASS products and services. 

Objective Collaborators: Methodology Division, Office of the Administrator, Statistics Division, and 

Strategic Planning and Business Services Division

NASS provides value when data are accessible and understandable by audiences with different levels of 

knowledge and different data needs. NASS will make data more accessible and raise data literacy through 

ongoing stakeholder engagement and education.

Implementation Strategies

• Improved customer ability to search, visualize, and interface with statistical and geographic 

information.

• Products are developed to specifically target underserved and hard-to-reach populations, remove 

barriers to participation, and build relationships with rural farming communities to increase 

engagement with NASS .

• Streamline program policies and modernize application systems to reduce barriers to access 

statistical products and improve the customer experience.
National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) Strategic Plan FY2022 – FY2026 10

Strategic Goal 3

Organizational Excellence 

NASS will continue to explore the use of new business processes, methodologies, and technologies aiming 

for faster and more efficient data collection to output quality data with greater speed and relevance. These 

methodologies and technologies show promise in improving and enhancing the measurements of the 

agricultural economy and community without imposing additional respondent burden. To expedite and 

streamline data processing, NASS will commit to enterprise solutions, innovative tools, and data sources.

Objective 3.1: Create new, modern business processes to produce quality data and products at 

a faster rate. 

Objective Collaborators: All Divisions and Staff Offices

NASS will take advantage of new survey lifecycle models using alternative data sources and methods. 

NASS will continue to modernize processes and support services and measure success by producing highquality statistical benchmarks, measures, and geographic information. 

Implementation Strategies

• Continue the adoption of enterprise cloud platforms to enable greater access to data for 

collaboration, enhanced analytics and reporting capabilities, and new data sharing capabilities with 

external stakeholders and researchers.

• Transition from duplicate legacy applications to enterprise-level solutions for data collection, 

editing, and dissemination.

• Expand business processes to think beyond the traditional survey lifecycle toward a broader 

information lifecycle model using survey and non-survey data.

• Develop a project management dashboard to track the efficient delivery of projects that support 

release of new technology and business processes. 

Objective 3.2: Mature, expand, and enforce enterprise-level strategic and program 

management processes and tools to guide data-driven decision-making. 

Objective Collaborators: Methodology Division and Strategic Planning and Business Services Division

NASS will leverage the newly established offices within the Strategic Planning and Business Services 

Division to guide the implementation of mission-critical capabilities—including portfolio management, 

performance management, risk management, program and project management, and formalized cost 

estimation. Top quality products and assistance will be provided by staff, including strategic planning, 

employee time-on-task reporting, and expanding cost estimation practices. NASS will focus these 

resources to (1) increase integration, (2) formalize knowledge management and transfer, and (3) execute 

capabilities consistently at the enterprise level. Execution of these capabilities will be facilitated through 

more formal program evaluations and consistent approaches to program management—a clear and 

embraced governance process—and continuous improvement feedback loops.

Implementation Strategies

• Invest and support the Project Management Office’s vision to identify and initiate projects with the 

highest return on investment. Conduct a gap analysis on project management artifacts, create 

artifact templates and an end-to-end project administration manual, and conduct a training for 

NASS staff. 

• Assess business processes to identify, define, and document existing processes. Processes are 

repeatable, integrated, and scalable and help NASS meet strategic and operational goals and 

objectives. 

• Adopt lean methods, techniques, and tools for continuous improvement. 
National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) Strategic Plan FY2022 – FY2026 11

• Invest in the development and use of methodology and technology for record linkage, quality 

assessment and enhancement, data management, and modern disclosure-limitation and security 

procedures. 

• Develop and implement a formalized program evaluation process that provides consistency across 

program management and establishes continuous improvement feedback loops. 

Objective 3.3: Mature ability to manage risk and ensure that proven effective internal controls 

are built into every process and system. 

Objective Collaborators: Strategic Planning and Business Services Division

Attention to managing enterprise risk and applying internal controls ensures that NASS performs 

effectively and efficiently according to regulations, controls, and policy. A strong foundation of integrated 

risk management and internal controls ensures that data are accurate, privacy is protected, and credibility 

is enhanced. 

Implementation Strategies

• Develop and implement an Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) framework. Utilize this framework 

to improve NASS’s ability to surface threats and establish appropriate responses, reducing 

surprises, costs, and disruptions for our customers. 

• Develop an ERM dashboard that provides the agency an easy way to track and respond to risks. 

• Leverage enterprise risk management best practices to identify new opportunities and unique 

challenges associated with current opportunities. Strategic and operational risks are managed 

within acceptable tolerances.

• Develop and implement a risk dashboard that leverages the Configuration Control Board’s formal 

process for approving IT configuration changes that impact all NASS IT systems.