USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS)

The USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) is the principal in-house research agency of the US Department of Agriculture. ARS conducts research to develop and implement solutions to agricultural problems that affect Americans every day. Research areas include crop protection, animal health, food safety, natural resource management, sustainable agriculture, and nutrition. ARS provides public data access through FoodData Central (nutrition data) and the Ag Data Commons (agricultural research datasets repository with CKAN/DKAN API).

USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) publishes 3 API contracts indexed on the APIs.io network: Datasets API, Food Search API, and Foods API. Tagged areas include Federal Government, Agriculture, Food Safety, Nutrition, and Open Data.

The USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) catalog on APIs.io includes 1 JSON-LD context and 2 Spectral governance rulesets.

USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS)’s developer surface includes authentication, engineering blog, and 7 more developer resources.

🌐 Visit website 📡 Profile data on GitHub

29.1/100 thin ▬ flat Agent 23/100 agent aware Heartbeat 100/100 alive Full breakdown ↓
scored 2026-11-06 · rubric v0.27.0 · Show this score on your site →

AccessFreemiumSelf serve⚡ Free to try

2 published contracts

Federal Government Agriculture Food Safety Nutrition Open Data Research

Kin Score

Kin Score How this is scored →
scored 2026-11-06 · rubric v0.27.0

Composite quality — 29.1/100 · thin

Contract Quality 9.5 / 19

Developer Ergonomics 5.0 / 15

Access Clarity 1.2 / 15

Operational Transparency 0.8 / 10

Contract Governance 1.2 / 9

Discoverability 4.3 / 8

Regulatory Posture 2.5 / 15

Create-or-Update Ergonomics 0.0 / 10

Agent readiness — 23/100 · agent aware

Machine-Readable Contract 18 / 18

Agentic Access Contract 10 / 10

Documented Reversibility 0 / 6

MCP Server 0 / 12

Machine-Readable Auth 10 / 10

Idempotency 0 / 9

Stable Error Semantics 0 / 8

Request/Response Examples 7 / 7

Rate-Limit Signaling 7 / 7

Typed Event Surface 0 / 6

Agent Skills 0 / 5

Well-Known Catalog 0 / 4

Consent & Bot Identity 0 / 3

A2A Agent Card 0 / 8

Dry-Run / Simulate Mode 0 / 4

Delegated User Identity 0 / 6

Protected Resource Metadata 0 / 5

Registration Without a Human 0 / 6

Agentic Commerce Well-Known Document 0 / 5

Pagination 5 / 5

Distinct Operations 3 / 3

MCP Tool Quality 6 / 6

Regulatory Posture applies to this provider. Its tags matched the Government & Public Sector regime, so Regulatory Posture carries 15 points of the composite. If this regime is wrong for your business, say so on your provider repo — the applicability map is public and we will correct it.

Create-or-Update Ergonomics applies to this provider. This API accepts writes, so it carries 10 points of the composite. It is scored from the published contracts themselves: whether a caller can create-or-update in one call, whether the write accepts a key the caller already holds, and whether the response says which branch ran. Without that, every write needs a search-and-branch in front of it, and the first time that check is skipped a duplicate record is created. Scored against the observed mean rather than raw — a provider at the catalog average is unchanged by this facet, not penalised by it.

The six quality facets above are damped to 75 points between them, because the conditional facet above carries the other 25. That is why each facet's contribution is shown against a damped maximum: raising a quality facet moves the composite by 75% of its nominal weight, not 100%. The full arithmetic is at apis.io/rating/.

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Agent readiness — checks not met, largest first (exact, from this profile):

MCP Server +12 pts — deployment.mode + probe verdict on the mcp/ manifest, not the pointer; an unprobed slug falls back to authorship
Idempotency +9 pts — OpenAPI mutating operations declare an idempotency key — a header, a request-body property, or a named de-duplication token whose own description says so (verified); else common[].type matches /idempoten/i (documented)
Stable Error Semantics +8 pts — OpenAPI $refs a shared error schema across 4xx/5xx responses (verified), else common[].type includes ErrorCatalog / ErrorCodes / DeclineCodes
A2A Agent Card +8 pts — a2a/-a2a.yml manifest, graded on conformance.grade against A2A 1.0.0
Registration Without a Human +6 pts — a `registration_endpoint` in the served RFC 8414 / OIDC discovery document
Delegated User Identity +6 pts — a served discovery document listing authorization_code in grant_types_supported (served), else an oauth2 authorizationCode flow or openIdConnect declared in an OpenAPI (documented)

8 more unmet checks in the Agent Readiness table above.

Kin Score — facets with the most composite points still available (weight × headroom):

Access Clarity scores 7.9 — up to +18.4 composite points
Developer Ergonomics scores 33.3 — up to +13.3 composite points
Contract Quality scores 50.9 — up to +12.3 composite points

Each check links to what satisfies it. Publish the artifact, or tell us where it already lives, and the score moves on the next scoring run.

Improve this rating by publishing the missing artifacts — every area above can be raised, and the full rubric is at apis.io/rating/. Every facet and dimension name above is a link: it opens that measurement's own page — what it means, the exact checks that feed it, how the whole catalog distributes on it, and the providers at the top of it. This rating is computed from the provider profile at artifacts.apis.io/usda-agricultural-research-service-ars-/apis.yml: open an issue on github.com/api-evangelist/usda-agricultural-research-service-ars- to ask a question or point us at an artifact you publish. Submit an artifact on GitHub — free → Manage your own listing — the Influence plan, $499/mo →

Markets this provider is in provisional

The Kin Score Market layer reads a provider inside its market: its position, and how deep its integrations go. Depth is only comparable within a position. Provisional and unweighted: not part of the Kin Score or agent readiness.

Market	Position	Depth	Registered MCP server	Declares compatibility
US Federal API Programs (api.data.gov, Login.gov, GSA MAS, FedRAMP)	undeclared	-	-	-

Registered MCP server and declares compatibility are report only — not weighted. Undeclared means we found nothing we can read, so there is no number: we never infer integrations.

Standards implemented 1

Standards this provider implements or carries. De facto ones are profiled and measured by the API Commons; formal ones come from the standards directory and are linked by the provider's own tags. The evidence column says how each claim was established — not that it was made.

OpenAPI

measured — observed by APIs.io (published)

APIs 3

Individual APIs this provider publishes, each with its own machine-readable definition.

USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Datasets API

Dataset metadata search and retrieval

USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Food Search API

Search foods by keywords or other criteria

USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Foods API

Retrieve food records by FDC ID

Open Collections 5

Open, tool-agnostic API collections (OpenAPI-derived and Bruno).

USDA Ag Data Commons CKAN Datasets API

OPEN COLLECTION

USDA Ag Data Commons CKAN Datasets Food Search API

OPEN COLLECTION

USDA Ag Data Commons CKAN Datasets Foods API

OPEN COLLECTION

USDA Ag Data Commons CKAN API

OPEN COLLECTION

USDA FoodData Central API

OPEN COLLECTION

USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) API pricing

Not yet checked against USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS)'s own pricing page. Compiled by API Evangelist on 2026-05-04; confirm before you rely on a figure. A free plan or tier is listed.

Plan	Price
Free freemium	Free
Professional paid	Free
Enterprise enterprise	—

Plan details, limits and sources →

Rate limits

Free Tier Default: 10 requests per minute
Free Tier Monthly Quota: 1000 requests per month
Professional Tier Default: 100 requests per minute

Compiled by API Evangelist, not yet checked against USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS)'s documentation. All 5 limits →

Pricing Plans 1

Published pricing tiers and plan structures.

Usda Agricultural Research Service Ars Plans Pricing

3 plans

PLANS

Rate Limits 1

Documented rate limits and quota policies.

Usda Agricultural Research Service Ars Rate Limits

5 limits

RATE LIMITS

Service Levels 1

Uptime the provider promises or reports, as SLA4OAI. Read from its own pages; APIs.io runs no monitors.

USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS)

SLA

FinOps 1

Cost, billing, and metering signals for API financial operations.

Usda Agricultural Research Service Ars Finops

FINOPS

Semantic Vocabularies 1

JSON-LD contexts and semantic vocabularies used across these APIs.

Usda Agricultural Research Service Ars Context

3 classes · 17 properties

JSON-LD

Spectral Rules 2

Spectral governance rulesets for linting and validating these APIs.

USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) — jsonschema rules

5 rules · 3 warnings 2 info

SPECTRAL

USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) API Rules

7 rules · 2 errors 3 warnings 2 info

SPECTRAL

JSON Schema 1

Standalone JSON Schema definitions for this provider's data models.

USDA FoodData Central Food Item

11 properties

JSON SCHEMA

JSON Structure 1

JSON Structure definitions describing this provider's data shapes.

Usda Ars Food Item Structure

0 properties

JSON STRUCTURE

Examples 2

Example request and response payloads for these APIs.

Usda Ars Search Datasets Example

2 fields

EXAMPLE

Usda Ars Search Foods Example

2 fields

EXAMPLE

Security Posture 2

Authentication, domain security, vulnerability disclosure, and trust-center signals.

Usda Agricultural Research Service Ars Authentication

apiKey · 2 schemes

SECURITY

Usda Agricultural Research Service Ars Domain Security

TLSv1.2 · HSTS · DNSSEC · DMARC

SECURITY

Agentic Access 1

Recommended x-agentic-access execution contracts for AI agents.

Usda Agricultural Research Service Ars Agentic Access

12 operations

12 operations · 0 acting

AGENTIC

Resources

Agent Surfaces 1

MCP servers, agent skills, and machine-readable catalogs

AgenticAccess

AgenticAccess

Access & Security 2

Authentication, authorization, and security posture

DomainSecurity

DomainSecurity

Authentication

Authentication

Operate 1

Status, limits, changes, and where to get help

RateLimits

RateLimits

Commercial 2

Pricing, plans, and the legal terms of use

Plans

Plans

FinOps

FinOps

Company 3

The organization behind the API

Website

Website

LinkedIn

Blog

Blog

Source (apis.yml)

aid: usda-agricultural-research-service-ars-
url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/usda-agricultural-research-service-ars-/refs/heads/main/apis.yml
common:
- type: Plans
  url: plans/usda-agricultural-research-service-ars--plans-pricing.yml
- type: RateLimits
  url: rate-limits/usda-agricultural-research-service-ars--rate-limits.yml
- type: FinOps
  url: finops/usda-agricultural-research-service-ars--finops.yml
- type: Website
  url: https://usda.gov
- type: AgenticAccess
  url: agentic-access/usda-agricultural-research-service-ars--agentic-access.yml
- type: DomainSecurity
  url: security/usda-agricultural-research-service-ars--domain-security.yml
- type: Authentication
  url: authentication/usda-agricultural-research-service-ars--authentication.yml
- type: LinkedIn
  url: https://www.linkedin.com/company/usda-ars
- url: http://www.ars.usda.gov/rss
  type: Blog
apis:
- aid: usda-agricultural-research-service-ars-:usda-agricultural-research-service-ars--datasets-api
  name: USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Datasets API
  description: Dataset metadata search and retrieval
  humanURL: https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/api-guide/
  tags:
  - Datasets
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/usda-agricultural-research-service-ars--datasets-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/api-guide/
  - type: Portal
    url: https://agdatacommons.nal.usda.gov
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://data.nal.usda.gov/about-ag-data-commons
- aid: usda-agricultural-research-service-ars-:usda-agricultural-research-service-ars--food-search-api
  name: USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Food Search API
  description: Search foods by keywords or other criteria
  humanURL: https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/api-guide/
  tags:
  - Food Search
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/usda-agricultural-research-service-ars--food-search-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/api-guide/
  - type: Portal
    url: https://agdatacommons.nal.usda.gov
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://data.nal.usda.gov/about-ag-data-commons
- aid: usda-agricultural-research-service-ars-:usda-agricultural-research-service-ars--foods-api
  name: USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Foods API
  description: Retrieve food records by FDC ID
  humanURL: https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/api-guide/
  tags:
  - Food
  tags_raw:
  - Foods
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/usda-agricultural-research-service-ars--foods-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/api-guide/
  - type: Portal
    url: https://agdatacommons.nal.usda.gov
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://data.nal.usda.gov/about-ag-data-commons
name: USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS)
tags:
- Federal Government
- Agriculture
- Food Safety
- Nutrition
- Open Data
- Research
tags_raw:
- Federal Government
- Agriculture
- Food Safety
- Nutrition
- Open Data
- Research
- Federal-Government
kind: contract
deliveryModel:
  model: unknown
  open_source: false
  commercial: false
  callable_host: true
  label: Delivery model not determined — needs a product licence on record
  confidence: low
  source:
  - openapi
  generated: '2026-08-28'
  method: derived
accessModel:
  pricing: freemium
  onboarding: self-serve
  trial: false
  try_now: true
  public: false
  gated: none
  gated_source:
  - onboarding
  label: Freemium · Self-serve signup
  confidence: medium
  source:
  - plans
  - authentication
  - security
  generated: '2026-11-06'
  method: derived
image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/icons/usda-agricultural-research-service-ars-.png
access: 3rd-Party
created: '2024-11-21'
modified: '2026-09-16'
position: Consuming
description: The USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) is the principal in-house research agency of the US Department of
  Agriculture. ARS conducts research to develop and implement solutions to agricultural problems that affect Americans every
  day. Research areas include crop protection, animal health, food safety, natural resource management, sustainable agriculture,
  and nutrition. ARS provides public data access through FoodData Central (nutrition data) and the Ag Data Commons (agricultural
  research datasets repository with CKAN/DKAN API).
features:
- Food Nutrition Data (FoodData Central)
- Agricultural Research Datasets (Ag Data Commons)
- Germplasm Resources (GRIN)
- Plant Variety Protection
- Soil Health Data
- Genomics and Bioinformatics Tools
useCases:
- Nutrition research and dietary analysis
- Food labeling and composition analysis
- Agricultural research data discovery
- Plant genetics and germplasm research
- Food safety assessment
- Sustainable agriculture research
- Climate and soil health monitoring
integrations:
- data.gov
- Ag Data Commons
- FoodData Central
solutions:
- Food and Nutrition Research
- Agricultural Data Discovery
- Crop and Animal Genetics Research
github:
- https://github.com/USDA-ARS
- https://github.com/usda-ars-gbru
- https://github.com/usda-ars-nwrc
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: kin@apievangelist.com
specificationVersion: '0.23'
x-parent: usda

USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) API — frequently asked questions

Does USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) have an API?

Yes. APIs.io lists 3 APIs from USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS), including USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Datasets API, USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Food Search API and USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Foods API.

Is there an OpenAPI specification for the USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) API?

Yes. APIs.io indexes 3 OpenAPI specifications for USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS), each linked for download from this page.

How do I authenticate with the USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) API?

USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) uses bearer-token authentication (apiKey · 2 schemes). The details are profiled on APIs.io as Usda Agricultural Research Service Ars Authentication.

How much does the USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) API cost?

APIs.io lists 3 pricing plans for USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS), with each plan's price, limits and inclusions under Pricing on this page.

Is the USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) API ready for AI agents?

USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) has a Kin Score of 29.1 out of 100 (thin) and an Agent Readiness score of 23.0 (agent-aware), scored by API Evangelist on 2026-11-06.

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