generated: '2026-09-06'
method: searched
source: >-
  https://www.ers.usda.gov/developer/api-terms-of-service,
  https://www.ers.usda.gov/developer/data-apis/arms-data-api,
  https://www.ers.usda.gov/developer/data-apis/arms-data-api/updates-and-revisions and
  https://www.ers.usda.gov/developer/geospatial-apis, all read 2026-09-06.
provider: Economic Research Service
providerId: economic-research-service
description: >-
  Lifecycle posture for the ERS API surfaces. ERS publishes a changelog and a terms of service
  and nothing else: no versioning scheme, no deprecation policy, no Sunset or Deprecation
  headers, no SLA, no status page. The terms reserve a broad unilateral right to change or
  withdraw the API at any time, and one documented breaking change (2019-08-29) shipped with no
  notice window at all.
versioning:
  scheme: none
  in_path: false
  in_header: false
  in_media_type: false
  current: null
  note: >-
    No version appears in https://api.ers.usda.gov/data/arms/* or in any documented response
    field. The ArcGIS services do carry a currentVersion (12 / fullVersion 12.0.0, readable at
    https://gisportal.ers.usda.gov/server/rest/info?f=json), but that is the ArcGIS Server
    product version, not an ERS API version.
deprecation:
  policy_published: false
  policy_url: null
  sunset_header: false
  deprecation_header: false
  rfc8594: false
  notice_period: null
  observed_breaking_changes:
    - date: '2019-08-29'
      change: Removed info.searching and info.formatting from every query result.
      notice: None. Announced only as a dated line on the Updates and Revisions page.
      source: https://www.ers.usda.gov/developer/data-apis/arms-data-api/updates-and-revisions
  retirements:
    - product: Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Data System
      status: discontinued
      note: >-
        "Updates to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Data System have been
        discontinued." Stated on the Geospatial APIs page with no date and no sunset schedule.
      source: https://www.ers.usda.gov/developer/geospatial-apis
    - product: FARA Food Access 2010 map service
      status: archived-but-served
      note: >-
        "Archived food access measures from 2010 Census... Not in the app but still available to
        API access or ArcGIS Pro access." An explicit statement that a service outlived its
        consuming application - useful, and rare to see written down.
      source: https://www.ers.usda.gov/developer/geospatial-apis
  provider_rights:
    note: >-
      The API Terms of Service reserve the right to "terminate or deny you access to and use of
      all or part of the API at any time for any other reason in its sole discretion", and to
      modify the agreement by posting a revised version, with continued use constituting
      acceptance. There is no corresponding commitment to notice.
    source: https://www.ers.usda.gov/developer/api-terms-of-service
sla:
  published: false
  uptime_target: null
  note: >-
    Explicitly disclaimed: "ERS makes no warranty that the API or ERS data will be error-free or
    that access thereto will be continuous or uninterrupted."
  source: https://www.ers.usda.gov/developer/api-terms-of-service
status_page:
  published: false
  url: null
  note: >-
    No ERS or USDA status page was found for these APIs. A consumer has no published channel to
    distinguish an outage from a rate-limit block or a retirement.
changelog:
  published: true
  url: https://www.ers.usda.gov/developer/data-apis/arms-data-api/updates-and-revisions
  machine_readable: false
  artifact: changelog/economic-research-service-changelog.yml
support:
  channel: named agency contacts on each developer page
  contacts:
    - name: ARMS Team
      page: https://www.ers.usda.gov/developer/data-apis/arms-data-api
    - name: Thomas Kane
      page: https://www.ers.usda.gov/developer/data-apis
    - name: Trina Weilert
      page: https://www.ers.usda.gov/developer/geospatial-apis
  general: https://www.ers.usda.gov/contact-us
  note: >-
    Named individuals rather than a ticketing system or developer forum. There is no public
    issue tracker; the USDA-REE-ERS GitHub repositories that mirror the documentation have
    issues but have not been pushed to since 2020.
maintainers:
  - FN: Kin Lane
    email: kin@apievangelist.com