USDA website screenshot

USDA

The US Department of Agriculture provides a suite of free public REST APIs covering agricultural statistics, food and nutrition data, market news, food safety inspection records, crop and vegetation monitoring, and geospatial services. APIs are accessed through api.data.gov and agency-specific portals, all requiring a free API key.

USDA publishes 1 API on the APIs.io network: FDC API. Tagged areas include Agriculture, Food Safety, Nutrition, Statistics, and Geospatial.

The USDA catalog on APIs.io includes 1 JSON-LD context and 1 Spectral governance ruleset.

USDA’s developer surface includes authentication, documentation, engineering blog, pricing, and 11 more developer resources.

🌐 Visit website 📡 Source on GitHub
47.1/100 developing ▬ flat Agent 34/100 agent aware Full breakdown ↓
scored 2026-07-28 · rubric v0.6
AccessFreeSelf serve⚡ Free to try
7 APIs
AgricultureFood SafetyNutritionStatisticsGeospatialMarket NewsFederal Government

Kin Score

Kin Score Kin Score How this is scored →
scored 2026-07-28 · rubric v0.6
Composite quality — 47.1/100 · developing
Contract Quality 15.7 / 25
Developer Ergonomics 4.3 / 20
Commercial Clarity 10.0 / 20
Operational Transparency 2.7 / 13
Governance 7.0 / 12
Discoverability 7.4 / 10
Agent readiness — 34/100 · agent aware
Machine-Readable Contract 18 / 18
Agentic Access Contract 10 / 10
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
Improve this rating by publishing the missing artifacts — every area above can be raised, and the full rubric is at apis.io/rating/. This rating is computed from github.com/api-evangelist/usda: open an issue to ask a question, or submit a pull request to add artifacts. Want it done for you? Prioritized profiling — $2,500 →

APIs 7

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

USDA NASS Quick Stats API

Programmatic access to official US agricultural statistics from the National Agricultural Statistics Service, including crop production estimates, livestock data, and Census of ...

USDA ERS ARMS Data API

Economic Research Service API providing access to data from the Agriculture Resource Management Survey (ARMS), covering farm finances, production practices, and resource use. Re...

USDA AMS MyMarketNews MARS API

Market Analysis Reporting System (MARS) API providing programmatic access to USDA Agricultural Marketing Service commodity price and market news data including livestock, dairy,...

USDA NASS CroplandCROS API

Geospatial API serving Cropland Data Layer (CDL) and related geospatial data at 30-meter resolution covering the continental US from 2008 onward, with historical data for select...

USDA Forest Service Geospatial REST API

ArcGIS Server REST API providing access to USDA Forest Service nationwide geospatial datasets including forest boundaries, land status, fire occurrence, and ecological data layers.

USDA FSIS MPI Directory API

Food Safety and Inspection Service API providing real-time access to the Meat, Poultry and Egg Product Inspection Directory, including establishment location, size, species proc...

USDA FDC API

endpoints to retrieve nutrient data

Scroll for all 7

Pricing Plans 1

Published pricing tiers and plan structures.

Usda Plans Pricing

3 plans

PLANS

Rate Limits 1

Documented rate limits and quota policies.

Usda Rate Limits

0 limits

RATE LIMITS

FinOps 1

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

Usda Finops

FINOPS

Semantic Vocabularies 1

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

Usda Context

7 classes · 54 properties

JSON-LD

Spectral Rules 1

Spectral governance rulesets for linting and validating these APIs.

USDA API Rules

6 rules · 4 warnings 2 info

SPECTRAL

JSON Schema 1

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

FoodData Central Food Item

0 properties

JSON SCHEMA

Examples 2

Example request and response payloads for these APIs.

Usda Fooddata Central Food Item Example

3 fields

EXAMPLE

Usda Fooddata Central Food Search Example

3 fields

EXAMPLE

Security Posture 2

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

Usda Authentication

apiKey · 1 scheme

SECURITY

Usda Domain Security

TLSv1.3 · HSTS · DNSSEC · DMARC

SECURITY

Agentic Access 1

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

Usda Agentic Access

9 operations · 3 acting

9 operations · 3 acting

AGENTIC

Resources

Documentation 1

Reference material describing how the API behaves

Documentation
Documentation

Agent Surfaces 1

MCP servers, agent skills, and machine-readable catalogs

AgenticAccess
AgenticAccess

Build 2

SDKs, sample code, and the tooling you integrate with

GitHubOrg
GitHubOrg
 GitHubOrg
GitHubOrg

Access & Security 2

Authentication, authorization, and security posture

DomainSecurity
DomainSecurity
 Authentication
Authentication

Operate 2

Status, limits, changes, and where to get help

StatusPage
StatusPage
 RateLimits
RateLimits

Commercial 3

Pricing, plans, and the legal terms of use

Pricing
Pricing
 Plans
Plans
 FinOps
FinOps

Company 3

The organization behind the API

Website
Website
 Blog
Blog
 LinkedIn
LinkedIn

Other 1

Properties that don't map to a standard resource type

X
X

Source (apis.yml)

apis.yml Raw ↑ 
aid: usda
name: USDA
description: The US Department of Agriculture provides a suite of free public REST APIs covering agricultural statistics,
  food and nutrition data, market news, food safety inspection records, crop and vegetation monitoring, and geospatial services.
  APIs are accessed through api.data.gov and agency-specific portals, all requiring a free API key.
accessModel:
  pricing: free
  onboarding: self-serve
  trial: false
  try_now: true
  public: false
  label: Free · Self-serve signup
  confidence: high
  source:
  - plans
  - authentication
  generated: '2026-07-22'
  method: derived
image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/icons/usda.png
url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/usda/refs/heads/main/apis.yml
created: '2026-06-13'
modified: '2026-06-13'
specificationVersion: '0.19'
type: Index
tags:
- Agriculture
- Food Safety
- Nutrition
- Statistics
- Geospatial
- Market News
- Federal Government
apis:
- name: USDA NASS Quick Stats API
  description: Programmatic access to official US agricultural statistics from the National Agricultural Statistics Service,
    including crop production estimates, livestock data, and Census of Agriculture results from 1997 onward.
  image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/apis-json-logo.jpg
  humanURL: https://quickstats.nass.usda.gov/api
  baseURL: https://quickstats.nass.usda.gov/api
  tags:
  - Agricultural Statistics
  - Crops
  - Livestock
  - Census
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://quickstats.nass.usda.gov/api
  - type: APIKeySignup
    url: https://quickstats.nass.usda.gov/api
- name: USDA ERS ARMS Data API
  description: Economic Research Service API providing access to data from the Agriculture Resource Management Survey (ARMS),
    covering farm finances, production practices, and resource use. Returns data in JSON format with attribute-based querying.
  image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/apis-json-logo.jpg
  humanURL: https://www.ers.usda.gov/developer/data-apis/arms-data-api
  baseURL: https://api.ers.usda.gov
  tags:
  - Farm Economics
  - Agricultural Survey
  - ARMS
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://www.ers.usda.gov/developer/data-apis/arms-data-api
  - type: GitHubRepository
    url: https://github.com/USDA-REE-ERS/ARMS-Data-API
  - type: APIKeySignup
    url: https://www.ers.usda.gov/developer/data-apis
- name: USDA AMS MyMarketNews MARS API
  description: Market Analysis Reporting System (MARS) API providing programmatic access to USDA Agricultural Marketing Service
    commodity price and market news data including livestock, dairy, fruits, vegetables, and grains.
  image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/apis-json-logo.jpg
  humanURL: https://mymarketnews.ams.usda.gov/mymarketnews-api
  baseURL: https://marsapi.ams.usda.gov/services/v1.2
  tags:
  - Market News
  - Commodity Prices
  - Livestock
  - Agriculture Markets
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://mymarketnews.ams.usda.gov/mars-api/getting-started
  - type: APIKeySignup
    url: https://mymarketnews.ams.usda.gov/mymarketnews-api
- name: USDA NASS CroplandCROS API
  description: Geospatial API serving Cropland Data Layer (CDL) and related geospatial data at 30-meter resolution covering
    the continental US from 2008 onward, with historical data for select states back to 1997.
  image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/apis-json-logo.jpg
  humanURL: https://www.nass.usda.gov/developer/index.php
  baseURL: https://nassgeodata.gmu.edu/CropScapeService
  tags:
  - Cropland
  - Geospatial
  - Remote Sensing
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://www.nass.usda.gov/developer/index.php
- name: USDA Forest Service Geospatial REST API
  description: ArcGIS Server REST API providing access to USDA Forest Service nationwide geospatial datasets including forest
    boundaries, land status, fire occurrence, and ecological data layers.
  image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/apis-json-logo.jpg
  humanURL: https://data-usfs.hub.arcgis.com/
  baseURL: https://apps.fs.usda.gov/arcx/rest/services
  tags:
  - Forest Service
  - Geospatial
  - ArcGIS
  - Fire
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://data.fs.usda.gov/geodata/edw/mapServices.php
  - type: Portal
    url: https://data-usfs.hub.arcgis.com/
- name: USDA FSIS MPI Directory API
  description: Food Safety and Inspection Service API providing real-time access to the Meat, Poultry and Egg Product Inspection
    Directory, including establishment location, size, species processed, and inspection status for all FSIS-regulated facilities.
  image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/apis-json-logo.jpg
  humanURL: https://www.fsis.usda.gov/science-data/developer-resources/mpi-api
  baseURL: https://www.fsis.usda.gov/fsis/api
  tags:
  - Food Safety
  - Meat Inspection
  - Poultry
  - Public Health
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://www.fsis.usda.gov/science-data/developer-resources
- aid: usda:usda-fdc-api
  name: USDA FDC API
  description: endpoints to retrieve nutrient data
  humanURL: https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/api-guide/
  baseURL: https://api.nal.usda.gov/fdc/v1
  tags:
  - FDC
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/usda-fdc-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/api-guide/
  - type: APIKeySignup
    url: https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/api-key-signup/
common:
- type: AgenticAccess
  url: agentic-access/usda-agentic-access.yml
- type: DomainSecurity
  url: security/usda-domain-security.yml
- type: Authentication
  url: authentication/usda-authentication.yml
- type: Website
  url: https://www.usda.gov/
- type: Documentation
  url: https://www.ers.usda.gov/developer/
- type: GitHubOrg
  url: https://github.com/USDA
- type: GitHubOrg
  url: https://github.com/USDA-REE-ERS
- type: Blog
  url: https://www.usda.gov/media/blog
- type: Pricing
  url: https://api.data.gov/docs/developer-manual/
- type: StatusPage
  url: https://api.data.gov/status/
- type: X
  url: https://twitter.com/USDA
- type: LinkedIn
  url: https://www.linkedin.com/company/usda
- type: Plans
  url: plans/usda-plans-pricing.yml
- type: RateLimits
  url: rate-limits/usda-rate-limits.yml
- type: FinOps
  url: finops/usda-finops.yml
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: kin@apievangelist.com