A pair of market analysts say the USDA’s use of artificial intelligence in its reporting is raising questions about the accuracy and reliability of the agency.
Shawn Hackett with Hackett Financial Advisors says the new tool could further erode farmer trust.
“Right now, we’re in the trust but verify phase,” he says. “We don’t have the authentication abilities yet and until we do, there needs to be someone watching over it to make sure that this is reliable data. If you don’t put reliable data out there, like we saw in September, it can create a lot of distortions in the market that are unwarranted.”
David Widmar with Agricultural Economic Insights says a lack of transparency around the use of AI is part of a larger issue facing the USDA.
“Their budget has really been hit over the last few years,” he says. “Their headcount has been hit. If we’re going to have a conversation about USDA accuracy, we need to think about response rates, we need to think about these AI tools that they might be using. We can’t solve this problem using just one element, we need to tackle them all.”
Both say finding long-term solutions to address low farmer participation could help improve the public’s perception of the agency.
Brownfield interviewed Hackett and Widmar during the 2026 Corn Belt Seed & Grain Conference.
