# US Department of Agriculture

Government · [Programs and community](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/community)

Also called: USDA, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Department of Agriculture, NASS, National Agricultural Statistics Service

The federal department for farming, food and rural America. Its National Agricultural Statistics Service runs hundreds of surveys a year and publishes reports on nearly every part of US agriculture, which agtech [founders](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/founder) use to size markets. It also runs SNAP.

**For example:** A [founder](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/founder) building software for cattle ranchers pulls USDA statistics on ranch counts to estimate the market.

## Connects to (2)

- [TAM](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/tam): Total addressable market.
- [Hard tech](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/hard-tech): Companies whose product rests on physical engineering or new science, such as machines, materials or devices.

## Sources

- <https://www.nass.usda.gov/About_NASS/index.php>
- <https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/supplemental-nutrition-assistance-program>


Map view: https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/usda