A primary goal of the FASS is to provide farmers, ranchers and other producers of agricultural commodities with unbiased and reliable information to assist them in making production and marketing decisions. Other important users of agricultural statistics are farm organizations, agribusiness and transportation firms, state and national policy makers, and foreign buyers of agricultural products.

Farmers, ranchers and agribusinesses provide the data which are collected through a broad program of sample surveys throughout the year. Survey data are collected by mail or through interviews conducted by telephone or in person.

The Florida Agricultural Statistics Service is located in Orlando. In addition, FASS employs several people throughout the state to collect data, on a full- or part-time basis. Most of the data collection work is done by enumerators, who are contracted through the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA).