Agriculture's Statistics Agency:--Computation of Average Market Price of Rice Questioned--Independent Evaluation and Unimpeded GAO Access to Records Needed

The Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Economics, Statistics, and Cooperatives Service needs to develop better price data for determining the national average market price farmers will receive for rice as the data are used to calculate federal deficiency payments. Neither the program's authorizing legislation nor its legislative history indicates how the average price should be determined.