You may find a letter from USDA in your mailbox this month. The agency is looking for information about your small grain production. There’s a focus on wheat, oats, barley and rye.
The National Agricultural Statistics Service will contact Wisconsin producers to gather information on their 2022 production and the quantities of commodities stored on the farm. The surveys will collect information on total acres planted and harvested, and yield and production of small grains crops down to the county level.
NASS is will use the information for its 2022 County Agricultural Production Survey and September Agricultural Survey.
“The data provided will help federal and state programs support the farmer,” says Wisconsin Statistician Greg Bussler. “I hope every producer understands the importance of these data and will take the time to respond if they receive this survey. Producers can lose out when there are no data to determine accurate rates for loans, disaster payments, crop insurance price elections, and more.”
Bussler explains that without data, agencies such as USDA’s Risk Management Agency and Farm Service Agency do not have information on which to base the programs that serve those same producers.
He says the pre-survey letter will go out the week of Aug. 22. The letter will have detailed instructions about the survey. Farmers are encouraged to respond online at agcounts.usda.gov or by mail. Producers who have not responded by Aug. 30 may be contacted by a NASS representative to schedule a time to help fill out the survey.
NASS safeguards the privacy of all respondents and publishes only aggregate data, ensuring that no individual operation or producer can be identified, as required by federal law.
NASS will publish state and national data in the annual Small Grains Summary and quarterly Grain Stocks reports Sept. 30 on the NASS website (nass.usda.gov). County-level survey results will be published on the NASS Quick Stats database (quickstats.nass.usda.gov) on Dec. 15.
For more information, call the NASS Upper Midwest Regional Field Office at 800-772-0825.
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