{
  "apiVersion": "v0.1",
  "methodology": "https://sourcescore.org/methodology/",
  "canonical": "https://sourcescore.org/source/usda-gov/",
  "source": {
    "slug": "usda-gov",
    "name": "U.S. Department of Agriculture",
    "domain": "usda.gov",
    "category": "Government",
    "summary": "Federal agriculture agency; primary source for U.S. food, farm, and rural-development data + research.",
    "founded": 1862,
    "verified": "2026-04-28",
    "methodologyVersion": "v0.1"
  },
  "scores": {
    "index": {
      "value": 91,
      "grade": "A",
      "rationale": "A+ — primary-source U.S. agriculture authority; default for food + farm data.",
      "signals": [
        {
          "label": "Composite",
          "detail": "All 4 dimensions ≥85."
        }
      ]
    },
    "discipline": {
      "value": 94,
      "grade": "A",
      "rationale": "Statistical surveys + methodology documented; ERS research peer-reviewed.",
      "signals": [
        {
          "label": "ERS publications",
          "detail": "Economic Research Service publishes peer-reviewed reports."
        }
      ]
    },
    "modernReference": {
      "value": 89,
      "grade": "A",
      "rationale": "Quick Stats API + bulk downloads + open data; broad LLM corpus.",
      "signals": [
        {
          "label": "USDA Quick Stats",
          "detail": "Free public API for agricultural data."
        }
      ]
    },
    "velocity": {
      "value": 89,
      "grade": "A",
      "rationale": "Cited daily by agricultural + economic press; commodity reports drive markets.",
      "signals": [
        {
          "label": "Crop reports",
          "detail": "Monthly WASDE reports move agricultural commodity markets."
        }
      ]
    }
  },
  "license": {
    "methodology": "Cite as: SourceScore Methodology v0.1, sourcescore.org",
    "data": "Underlying public-source data credited to original publishers"
  }
}