{
  "markdown": "# USDA NASS — Agricultural Statistics\n\nThe USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service. Crop production, livestock inventory, prices, planted/harvested acres, yields — the official US agricultural data. State and county level for major commodities. Free, no auth (light rate limit).\n\nPart of [Pipeworx](https://pipeworx.io) — an MCP gateway connecting AI agents to 1476+ live data sources.\n\n## Why this matters for AI agents\n\nFor agricultural commodity questions — supply outlook, price trends, regional production — NASS is the authoritative source. Used by USDA's own analysts, commodity traders, and agribusiness. Pair with [BLS](/docs/reference/bls) for ag wages/PPI and [Comtrade](/docs/reference/comtrade) for global trade flows.\n\nCommon flows:\n\n- **Production estimates.** \"What's the corn production forecast?\" → `nass_query({commodity: \"CORN\", agg_level: \"NATIONAL\"})` → annual and monthly forecasts.\n- **State-level breakdown.** Same query with `state: \"IOWA\"` for state-specific.\n- **Livestock inventory.** \"How many cattle in Texas?\" → `nass_query({commodity: \"CATTLE\", state: \"TEXAS\"})`.\n- **Prices.** Average farm-gate prices by commodity and time period.\n\nUsed by the `agricultural_commodity_brief` recipe.\n\n## Auth\n\nNASS Quickstats requires a free API key from https://quickstats.nass.usda.gov/api. Pass via `_apiKey`. Without a key, calls fail; with one, generous limits.\n\n## Major commodities tracked\n\nField crops: corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton, rice, sorghum, barley, oats, peanuts, sugar.\n\nLivestock: cattle (calves, steers, dairy), hogs, sheep, poultry (broilers, layers, turkeys).\n\nSpecialty: vegetables (potatoes, tomatoes), fruit (apples, citrus), tree nuts, ornamentals.\n\nUse exact USDA commodity names — the API is finicky about spelling and capitalization.\n\n## Update cadence\n\n| Report | Frequency |\n|---|---|\n| Crop Production | Monthly during growing season; final in January |\n| Quarterly Hogs and Pigs | March, June, September, December |\n| Cattle Inventory | January, July |\n| Prices Received / Paid | Monthly |\n| Crop Progress (planted / harvested %) | Weekly during growing season |\n\nThe crop-progress reports are the highest-frequency signal.\n\n## Common pitfalls\n\n- **Year-over-year confusion in monthly reports.** Mid-season Crop Production reports give a current-year forecast revised monthly. Compare to prior year, not to last month's forecast.\n- **Yield vs. production.** Yield is per-acre (e.g., bushels/acre). Production is total (yield × harvested acres). They tell different stories.\n- **NASS isn't WASDE.** The World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) is a separate USDA report that synthesizes NASS + global data with supply/demand forecasts. For \"outlook\" questions, you may want WASDE.\n- **State-level data sparser for minor crops.** Detailed state-level coverage is best for top-producing states. Smaller producers may aggregate to \"Other states\" or have suppressed data.\n- **Imperial units.** Bushels, pounds, head, acres. Comtrade uses kilograms — convert when cross-referencing.\n- **Reference period.** Cattle reports are point-in-time (January 1 inventory); crop reports often cover marketing year (varies by crop). Read the metadata.\n\n## Quick Start\n\nAdd to your MCP client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, etc.):\n\n```json\n{\n  \"mcpServers\": {\n    \"nass\": {\n      \"url\": \"https://gateway.pipeworx.io/nass/mcp\"\n    }\n  }\n}\n```\n\n### What this endpoint actually serves\n\n`tools/list` at `https://gateway.pipeworx.io/nass/mcp` returns the tools in the table\nabove **plus the shared Pipeworx meta-tools** — `ask_pipeworx`,\n`discover_tools`, `search_within`, `remember`/`recall` and the rest of the\ngateway-wide set. So the tool count you see is larger than this table: a\nsingle-pack endpoint currently lists roughly 30 shared tools alongside the\npack's own. The connection's `initialize` response states its exact scope, and\nis the authoritative answer for a given day.\n\nThis is deliberate, not multiplexing by accident. The meta-tools are what let a\nscoped connection answer a question this pack does not cover — via\n`ask_pipeworx`, which routes across the whole catalog — without you adding a\nsecond MCP server. There is currently no way to mount a pack endpoint without\nthem; if the extra schemas cost you more context than the routing is worth,\nconnect to the full gateway once rather than to several pack endpoints.\n\nOr connect to the full Pipeworx gateway to get every pack's tools listed\ndirectly, instead of just this one's:\n\n```json\n{\n  \"mcpServers\": {\n    \"pipeworx\": {\n      \"url\": \"https://gateway.pipeworx.io/mcp\"\n    }\n  }\n}\n```\n\nBoth URLs reach the same gateway and the same 1476+ data sources. The\nonly difference is which pack's tools are listed **directly**; `ask_pipeworx`\nreaches all of them from either one.\n\n## Using with ask_pipeworx\n\nInstead of calling tools directly, you can ask questions in plain English —\nthis works on the pack endpoint above as well as on the full gateway:\n\n```\nask_pipeworx({ question: \"your question about Nass data\" })\n```\n\nThe gateway picks the right tool and fills the arguments automatically.\n\n## More\n\n- [Docs and guides](https://pipeworx.io/docs)\n- [pipeworx.io](https://pipeworx.io)\n\n## License\n\nMIT\n",
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