AGRICULTURE

USDA NASS seeks input from farmers about 2015 crops

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Farm Forum

Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) will conduct two major mid-year surveys, the June Agricultural

Survey and the June Area Survey. The agency will survey nearly 4,900 farmers across South Dakota to determine crop production and supplies levels in 2015.

“Due to the widespread impact of its results, the June Agricultural Survey, also known as the Crops/Stocks Survey, and the June Area Survey, are two of the most significant surveys NASS conducts,” explained Erik Gerlach, State Statistician of the South Dakota Field Office. “Information growers provide serves as the first clear sign of the prospective production and supply of major commodities in the United States for the 2015 crop year.”

NASS gathers the data for the June Agriculture Survey online, by mail and/or by phone. For the June Area Survey, agency representatives will visit randomly selected tracts of land and interview the operators of any farm or ranch on that land. Growers will provide information on crop acreage – including biotech crops — as well as grain stocks, livestock inventory, cash rents, land values, and value of sales.

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, 2015. Survey data contribute to NASS’s monthly and annual Crop Production reports, as well as the annual Small Grains Summary and USDA’s monthly World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates.

As with all NASS surveys, information provided by respondents is kept strictly confidential, as required by federal law. “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,” stated Gerlach.

All reports are available on the NASS website: www.nass.usda.gov. For more information on NASS surveys and reports, call the NASS Northern Plains Regional Field Office at (800) 582-6443.