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USDA Seeks Feedback From Growers About 2016 Crops, Stocks, Inventories, Values
NASHVILLE, TENN.
During the next several weeks, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) will conduct two major mid-year surveys, the June Agricultural Survey and the June Area Survey. The agency will survey more than 2,600 farms across Tennessee to determine crop production and supplies levels in 2016.
”In Tennessee, nearly 50 National Association of Department of Agriculture (NASDA) enumerators will use aerial photography while personally visiting agricultural producers in these predetermined land areas for the June Area Survey,” said Debra Kenerson, Tennessee state statistician. “Agricultural production in these segments will help determine agricultural production in the state. The June Agricultural Survey will target the same audience, and avoid overlap whenever possible.”
NASDA enumerators gather the data for NASS for the June Agriculture Survey online, by mail, phone and in-person interview. For the June Area Survey, agency representatives visit randomly selected tracts of land and interview the operators of any farm on that land. Together, these surveys will make available an objective snapshot of agricultural crop acreages, grain stocks, and other agricultural production in the State.
“NASS appreciates the vital, outstanding cooperation of agricultural producers who provide these data, as well as the agencies which have promoted and publicized these upcoming surveys, to assist NASS in increasing response rates, thus affording us the opportunity to make the best estimates possible,” Kenerson said. “Enumerators will start visiting agricultural producers and businesses at the end of May and continue through mid-June. In 2015, these surveys showed that Tennessee had more than 1,100 producers from the June Area Survey, and another 1,500 producers from the June Agricultural Survey.”
NASS will compile and analyze the survey information and publish the results in a series of USDA reports, including the annual Acreage report and quarterly Grain Stocks report, both to be released June 30, 2016. USDA’s monthly World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates also includes these data.
“By federal law and through employee’s personal commitment, NASS safeguards the privacy of all responses and publishes only state- and national-level data, ensuring that no individual operation or producer can be identified,” Kenerson said.
All reports are available on the NASS website: http://www.nass.usda.gov/Publications.
For more information on NASS surveys and reports, call the NASS Eastern Mountain Regional Field Office at (800) 928-5277. ∆
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