Statistical properties of crop production estimators

The National Agricultural Statistics Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, conducts yield surveys for a variety of field crops in the United States. While field sampling procedures for various crops differ, the same basic survey design is used for all crops. The survey design and current estimators are reviewed. Alternative estimators of yield and production and of the variance of the estimators are presented. Current estimators and alternative estimators are compared, both theoretically and in a Monte Carlo simulation.