Ers Usda Gov USDA ARMS Data API
★ Only Publicly Available OpenAPI DocumentData EnrichmentCompany DataapiKey7 EndpointsREST
For Agents
Query USDA Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS) data on farm finances, production practices, and resource use across U.S. states and years. Authenticate with a single api_key query parameter.
Use for: List all U.S. states available in the ARMS dataset, Get all years for which ARMS survey data is published, Find the average net cash farm income for Iowa in 2022, Retrieve the variable list for farm production expenses
Not supported: Does not handle commodity prices, USDA NASS census data, or non-survey administrative records — use for ARMS survey data and reference dimensions only.
Jentic publishes the only available OpenAPI specification for the USDA ARMS Data API, keeping it validated and agent-ready. The Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS) Data API exposes seven endpoints over USDA Economic Research Service survey data covering farm sector financial conditions, production practices, and resource use. The API supports lookups for the reference dimensions (state, year, category, variable, report, farmtype) and a single survey-data query endpoint that returns the underlying observations. Authentication is by api_key query parameter, available free from the USDA developer portal.
Install Jentic One Beta
Connect the USDA ARMS Data API to your agent
Jentic One is a self-hosted execution layer for AI agents. It lets your agent call the USDA ARMS Data API, or any other public or private API you need. You set the rules, the agent never sees your credentials, and every call is logged.
Two steps, two machines. Install the instance in a safe environment, then register your agent from wherever it runs.
1
Step 1: Jentic One Host machine
# On the machine that will host your Jentic One instance:
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jentic/jentic-one/main/tools/install.sh | sh2
Step 2: Agent machine
# On the machine where your agent runs (keep this separate from the instance):
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jentic/jentic-one/main/tools/install.sh | sh
jentic register # connects your agent to your Jentic One instanceJentic One is in public beta. The setup above keeps your agent separate from the instance, which is what you want before using real credentials: an agent running as the same OS user as Jentic One can read its stored keys directly. Just evaluating? A single local install is fine to start. See the secure deployment guide for the tiers.
Capabilities
What an agent can do with USDA ARMS Data API.
List the U.S. states covered by the ARMS dataset for use as filter values
List the survey years covered for use as filter values
Browse the ARMS variable catalogue to discover queryable measures
Look up the report taxonomy used to organise survey data
List the farmtype dimension used to segment results
Query observation-level survey data filtered by state, year, variable, report, and farmtype
Inspect the category dimension that organises variables thematically
Use Cases
Patterns agents use USDA ARMS Data API for, with concrete tasks.
★ Agricultural Sector Research and Reporting
Economists and ag-policy analysts need normalised farm-finance data across states and years to build sector reports. The ARMS API exposes survey observations with reference data lookups, so an agent can pull a clean panel of net farm income, expenses, or asset values without scraping ERS reports or downloading Excel files.
Call GET /surveydata with state=IA, variable=net_cash_farm_income, year=2022 and return the observation set.
Investor Research on Agriculture-Linked Equities
Investors covering ag-input, machinery, and processor stocks need macro context on the underlying farm sector. The ARMS API provides farm-type segmented financial measures so an agent can correlate sector health with public-company earnings cycles, replacing slow PDF report reading with structured queries.
Call GET /surveydata with farmtype=crop and variable=production_expenses across the last 5 years and return the time series.
Climate and Resource-Use Studies on U.S. Agriculture
Sustainability researchers need farm resource-use data (inputs, irrigation, land) tied to specific states and years. ARMS reports include resource-use variables that an agent can pull through the /surveydata endpoint, supporting longitudinal studies on agricultural water use, fertiliser, or energy intensity without manual file extraction.
Call GET /report to find resource-use reports, then GET /variable with that report ID and GET /surveydata for variable=irrigated_acres in California.
AI Agent Agricultural Data Tool via Jentic
An AI research agent can be wired through Jentic to answer questions like 'what was the average net cash farm income in Iowa last year?' on demand. The agent searches by intent, loads the schema for /surveydata, and executes with the api_key scoped from the vault — no manual ARMS file downloads needed.
Use Jentic search('get usda farm income data'), load the GET /surveydata operation, and execute it with state=IA, variable=net_cash_farm_income, year=2022.
Key Endpoints
7 endpoints — jentic publishes the only available openapi specification for the usda arms data api, keeping it validated and agent-ready.
METHOD
PATH
DESCRIPTION
GET
/surveydata
Query ARMS survey observations
GET
/state
List available states
GET
/year
List available years
GET
/variable
List available variables
GET
/report
List available reports
GET
/farmtype
List farmtype dimension values
GET
/category
List variable categories
GET
/surveydata
Query ARMS survey observations
GET
/state
List available states
GET
/year
List available years
GET
/variable
List available variables
GET
/report
List available reports
GET
/farmtype
List farmtype dimension values
GET
/category
List variable categories
Why Jentic?
Three things that make agents converge on Jentic-routed access.
Credential isolation
Your api.data.gov key is stored encrypted in the Jentic vault (MAXsystem). Agents call ARMS with a scoped reference and the raw key is injected as the api_token query parameter at execution time.
Intent-based discovery
Agents search by intent (for example 'get usda farm income data') and Jentic returns the matching ARMS operation along with its parameter schema, so the agent doesn't have to learn the variable and report taxonomy in advance.
Time to first call
Direct ARMS integration: half a day to wire the api_key, learn the variable taxonomy, and handle pagination. Through Jentic: under 30 minutes — search, load, execute.
Related APIs
Alternatives and complements available in the Jentic catalogue.
FAQs
Specific to using USDA ARMS Data API through Jentic.
Why is there no official OpenAPI spec for the USDA ARMS Data API?
USDA ERS publishes documentation pages but not a downloadable OpenAPI specification. Jentic generates and maintains this spec so that AI agents and developers can call the USDA ARMS Data API via structured tooling. It is validated against the live API and kept up to date. Get started at https://app.jentic.com/sign-up.
What authentication does the USDA ARMS Data API use?
The API uses an apiKey scheme passed as the api_key query parameter on every request. The key is free from api.data.gov; through Jentic it is stored encrypted in the MAXsystem vault and injected at execution time.
Can I get farm income data by state with the USDA ARMS Data API?
Yes. GET /surveydata accepts state, year, variable, report, and farmtype filters. To find the income variable identifier, list options with GET /variable first.
What are the rate limits for the USDA ARMS Data API?
ARMS sits behind api.data.gov, which enforces 1,000 requests per hour per api_key by default and a higher cap on registered keys. Plan polling and bulk pulls within this budget.
How do I look up available variables through Jentic?
Search 'list usda arms variables'. Jentic returns the GET /variable operation, you load its schema, and execute to receive the variable catalogue. The api_key is injected from the vault.
Is the USDA ARMS Data API free?
Yes. ARMS data and the API are public-domain U.S. government resources. You only need a free api.data.gov key to access them.
GET STARTED