U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA) surveys are sent to tens of thousands of U.S. farmers to help calculate payments to farmers under the 2014 Farm Bill, and Congress also uses them to help shape policy. But responses to the USDA surveys have reached historic lows, and the agency is concerned.
Only 66.5 percent of farmers responded to the Sept. 30 quarterly grain stocks report, the lowest on record. The surveys are used to gather data on planted and harvest acres, yield and productions estimates for crops.
“Certainly it is something that we are aware of, we are paying attention to and that we are spending some time trying to make sure we can get that boosted back up,” Lance Honig, crops branch chief of the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, said at an annual USDA meeting in Chicago.
The fewer farmers who respond to the survey, the less accurate the reports become.
“This is not only a concern for the accuracy of the USDA reports, but also a financial concern for producers,” USDA Chief Economist Robert Johansson told AgriNews. “With the new farm bill programs, Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC), in particular, we need to have good data on what acreage and yields are for farms out there in order to provide a good estimate to Farm Service Agency, so they can determine what their ARC and Price Loss Coverage (PLC) payments are going to look like.”
The National Corn Growers Association is also encouraging farmers to complete and return USDA surveys.
“There seem to be county-to-county differences that are unaccounted for and, when you look at it, some counties did not have enough information from responses to the National Agricultural Statistics Service for them to publish data,” National Corn Growers Association’s Risk Management Action Team Chair Steve Ebke said in an interview with National Farm Broadcasters.
Ebke said the lack of data has led to discontent regarding ARC payments for 2014 and 2015.
Farmers can complete their 2016 county agricultural production survey by mail or online, Ebke said.
“I just want to urge everyone to go ahead and complete this as it is very important to your bottom line,” Ebke said. “We have additional information on our website and even a direct link to USDA’s site where you can complete your survey.”
If farmers continue to ignore the USDA surveys, it could impact their bottom lines.
To find out more, go to www.ncga.com/nass.