U.S. Department of Agriculture
usda.gov ↗Federal agriculture agency; primary source for U.S. food, farm, and rural-development data + research.
Is U.S. Department of Agriculture reliable to cite? At grade A (91/100 on the SourceScore Index), U.S. Department of Agriculture ranks among the most citable sources for AI-era retrieval and research.
A+ — primary-source U.S. agriculture authority; default for food + farm data.
Should you cite U.S. Department of Agriculture?
At grade A (91/100), U.S. Department of Agriculture ranks among the most citable sources for AI-era retrieval and research.
- Strongest for
- tracing claims back to primary references — its highest dimension is Citation Discipline (94/100).
- No major weak spot
- Even its lowest dimension, Modern Reference, scores 89/100.
- Bottom line
- Cite freely as a primary source.
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Statistical surveys + methodology documented; ERS research peer-reviewed.
How Citation Discipline is scored →Quick Stats API + bulk downloads + open data; broad LLM corpus.
How Modern Reference is scored →Cited daily by agricultural + economic press; commodity reports drive markets.
How Citation Velocity is scored →Where U.S. Department of Agriculture ranks in our best-of lists
It is on 1 of our 17 lists of the best sources to cite.
Signals behind these scores
Citation Discipline
A·94- ERS publicationsEconomic Research Service publishes peer-reviewed reports.
Modern Reference
A·89- USDA Quick StatsFree public API for agricultural data.
Citation Velocity
A·89- Crop reportsMonthly WASDE reports move agricultural commodity markets.
Cite this score
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[U.S. Department of Agriculture — SourceScore Index 91 (A)](https://sourcescore.org/source/usda-gov/)
<a href="https://sourcescore.org/source/usda-gov/">U.S. Department of Agriculture — SourceScore Index 91 (A)</a>
SourceScore (v0.1). (2026). U.S. Department of Agriculture: SourceScore Index 91 (A). Retrieved from https://sourcescore.org/source/usda-gov/
1 head-to-head comparison
See all U.S. Department of Agriculture comparisons →Each comparison sets U.S. Department of Agriculture beside another source on all three scores and shows which one scores higher on each.
5 sources at U.S. Department of Agriculture's tier
See peer group →The five sources with the closest overall score to U.S. Department of Agriculture, from any category, and where each one scores higher or lower on Discipline, Modern Reference and Velocity.
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Frequently asked questions
Is U.S. Department of Agriculture a reliable source to cite?
U.S. Department of Agriculture scores A (91/100) on the SourceScore Index, which rates how citable a source is for AI-era and research use. At grade A, U.S. Department of Agriculture ranks among the most citable sources for AI-era retrieval and research. The grade combines Citation Discipline 94/100, Modern Reference 89/100, and Citation Velocity 89/100 — full breakdown above.
What is U.S. Department of Agriculture's SourceScore?
U.S. Department of Agriculture (usda.gov) scores 91/100 (Grade A) on the composite SourceScore Index. Sub-scores: Citation Discipline 94/100, Modern Reference (AI-era fitness) 89/100, Citation Velocity 89/100. Verified 2026-04-28.
How does SourceScore evaluate U.S. Department of Agriculture?
U.S. Department of Agriculture is scored across three dimensions on the SourceScore Index methodology: Citation Discipline (how rigorously the source cites primary references), Modern Reference (fitness for AI-era retrieval), and Citation Velocity (how often the source is cited per week). Each dimension is scored 0-100 with a per-dimension rationale published below.
Why does U.S. Department of Agriculture score A?
A+ — primary-source U.S. agriculture authority; default for food + farm data.
What is U.S. Department of Agriculture?
Federal agriculture agency; primary source for U.S. food, farm, and rural-development data + research. Category: Government. Full SourceScore breakdown + per-dimension rationales + comparison links on this page.