2026-09-01T18:46:51.758Z / 路透社
美国农业部长布鲁克·罗林斯在华盛顿白宫接受记者采访，2026年8月25日。路透社/埃文·武奇 购买授权许可，打开新标签页
- 摘要
- 美国农业部试点项目将结合卫星影像、地理空间工具和作物模型，辅以农民调查
- 美国农业部称将优化调查移动访问功能，探索人工智能与机器学习应用
- 该机构表示，改革旨在减少农民重复提交信息的需求，提升数据时效性与准确性
艾奥瓦州布恩9月1日（路透社）——美国农业部长布鲁克·罗林斯周二表示，美国农业部将启动一个试点项目，更广泛地依赖技术手段，以改进其备受关注的美国作物种植面积和产量预估工作。目前该机构正因政府农业数据的可靠性问题，面临来自农民和贸易商的日益强烈的批评。
罗林斯在艾奥瓦州布恩举行的农场进步展会上公布了美国农业部的数据现代化计划，此前该部门已开展了为期一个月的农民与农业团体意见征询会。
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“我们将开展试点项目，评估改进型卫星影像的使用效果，与美国国家航空航天局（NASA）及全美其他联邦政府机构合作，探索如何让作物报告更加精准，”罗林斯在农场会议上表示。
根据该计划，试点项目将使用地理空间工具和作物模型，结合农民调查来估算作物种植面积和产量。该部门还表示，将探索人工智能和机器学习的应用。
此次公告发布前，农民、谷物贸易商和经济学家曾多次批评美国农业部的数据可靠性问题。2025年美国农民玉米种植和收获面积的预估数据，在初始预估和最终预估之间出现了前所未有的大幅波动，而这背后是该部门的大幅裁员。
此次数据收集改革旨在减少美国农业部反复向农民索要信息的情况，同时提升统计数据的时效性和准确性。美国农业部还表示，将向农民提供更多关于其数据测算方法、调查回复率以及数据局限性的信息。
美国农业部面临的大部分批评都集中在国家农业统计服务局身上。该局备受关注的报告能够影响大宗商品市场、作物农民的收获价格，并对联邦农业项目产生影响。今年1月最终预估数据公布后，本已低迷的谷物价格下跌了5%以上，而当时种植者正努力维持盈利。
罗林斯本周的艾奥瓦之行，恰逢无党派选举分析机构库克政治报告将艾奥瓦州联邦参议院竞选的评级从“倾向共和党”调整为“势均力敌”。在这个以农业为主的州，农民们一直在应对关税、以及美以冲突引发伊朗局势升级后柴油和化肥成本上涨的问题。这场竞选被广泛认为竞争激烈。
民主党希望在今年秋季赢得美国参议院的控制权，需要保住所有现任席位，并额外拿下4个席位，其中一些席位来自艾奥瓦州这类长期由共和党掌控的票仓。
美国农业部于8月4日在明尼苏达州农场博览会上启动了意见征询会。美国农业部发言人哈里·方斯周二告诉路透社，罗林斯计划在今年秋季期间举办更多的意见征询会。
这些会议暴露出农民对美国农业部统计数据可靠性、该机构的裁员以及特朗普政府其他政策的强烈不满，而这些政策正对本已紧张的农场经济造成冲击。罗林斯本人也承认民众信心的流失，称美国农业部需要重建农民对其数据的信任。
这些会议有时也成为农民宣泄更广泛不满的平台。罗林斯上个月访问爱荷华州州博览会时，就因唐纳德·特朗普总统宣布美国将增加阿根廷牛肉进口而遭到肉牛养殖户的批评。此举旨在降低消费者价格，但养殖户担心这会压低肉牛价格。
卡尔·普伦在艾奥瓦州布恩、P.J. 哈夫斯塔特在芝加哥报道。艾米丽·施马尔和奥罗拉·埃利斯编辑
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USDA to test satellites, AI to try to improve crop estimates amid farmer criticism
2026-09-01T18:46:51.758Z / Reuters
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins speaks with reporters at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., August 25, 2026. REUTERS/Evan Vucci Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab
- Summary
- USDA pilot to use satellite imagery, geospatial tools and crop models alongside farmer polls
- USDA said it will improve survey mobile access, explore artificial intelligence and machine learning
- Changes aim to cut repeated farmer requests for information, improve timeliness and accuracy, agency said
BOONE, Iowa, Sept 1 (Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Agriculture is launching a pilot project that will rely more heavily on technology as part of a broader effort to improve its closely watched U.S. crop acreage and yield estimates, Secretary Brooke Rollins said on Tuesday, as the agency faces mounting criticism from farmers and traders over the reliability of government agricultural data.
Rollins discussed USDA’s data modernization plan at the Farm Progress Show in Boone, Iowa, following a month-long series of listening sessions with farmers and agricultural groups.
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“We will conduct a pilot to evaluate the use of improved satellite imagery, working with NASA and other federal government agencies across the country to figure out how we can make this reporting more accurate,” Rollins said during the farm conference.
Under the plan, the project will use geospatial tools and crop models alongside farmer polls to estimate crop acreage and yields. The department also said it would explore the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning.
The announcement follows complaints about the reliability of department data from farmers, grain traders and economists after deep staff cuts and unprecedented increases between initial and final estimates of how many acres of corn U.S. farmers planted and harvested in 2025.
The data collection changes are intended to reduce the amount of information USDA repeatedly asks farmers to provide while improving the timeliness and accuracy of its statistics. USDA said it would also provide farmers with more information about its methodologies, survey response rates and limitations in its data.
Much of the criticism USDA has faced has centered on the National Agricultural Statistics Service, whose closely watched reports can move commodity markets, affect the prices crop farmers get for their harvests and influence federal farm programs. After the January final estimates were released, already low grain prices sank more than 5%, at a time when growers were struggling to make money.
Rollins’ trip to Iowa this week comes soon after the non-partisan election analysis group Cook Political Report shifted Iowa’s U.S. Senate race from “leans Republican” to “toss up” in the agriculture-dominated state, where farmers have struggled with tariffs, and rising diesel and fertilizer costs in the wake of the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran. The race is widely seen as competitive.
Democrats, eager to win control of the U.S. Senate this fall, need to win all their current seats and pick up four more, with some of those wins from states long held as Republican strongholds like Iowa.
USDA launched its listening sessions at Minnesota Farmfest on August 4. Rollins plans to host more listening sessions through this fall, USDA spokesman Harry Fones told Reuters on Tuesday.
The sessions have exposed deep frustration among farmers over the reliability of USDA statistics, staffing cuts at the agency and other Trump administration policies affecting an already strained farm economy. Rollins herself has acknowledged the loss of confidence, saying USDA needs to rebuild farmers’ trust in its data.
They also have at times become forums for farmers to vent broader grievances. When Rollins visited the Iowa State Fair last month, she faced criticism from cattle producers over President Donald Trump’s announcement that the United States would increase imports of Argentine beef — a move intended to lower consumer prices but which producers feared would hurt cattle prices.
Karl Plume reported in Boone, Iowa, and P.J. Huffstutter in Chicago. Editing by Emily Schmall and Aurora Ellis
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