GAO Report Highlights Value of Agricultural Chemical Usage Data

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has released a report titled
“USDA Could Enhance Pesticide and Fertilizer Usage Data, Improve Outreach,
and Better Leverage Resources.” GAO was asked to investigate the effect of
budgetary cutbacks on a program that gathers, analyzes and disseminates
information about the use of agricultural chemicals. According to the report,
the cutbacks forced data users to rely on older statistics, “which hindered
their ability to make informed decisions because agricultural chemical use
can change from year to year due to the emergence of new pests, weather
variations, changing market conditions, and other factors.”

GAO recommends various improvements to the system, including incorporating data from other publicly available sources, minimizing potential overlap with other data sources and identifying and consulting with data users on a regular basis.