Numerous observers have charged US agricultural data systems with conceptual obsolescence Although some modernization has occurred, particularly in providing information about commercial farms, agricultural and rural data bases have failed to keep up with production and structural changes in the sector and in rural America I propose a production paradigm for the food and fiber system based on the concept of a primary agricultural producer Among other attributes, the concept of a primary agricultural producer provides opportunities to redirect existing surveys, possibly including the Census of Agriculture, to the collection of broader rural or natural resources data sets Before such a redirection can be made, however, a new paradigm of rural people and resources is needed