Organic agriculture survey
Washington Ag Today April 28, 2009 New USDA surveys on organic production continue from the 2007 Census of Agriculture. Carol House of USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service says about 24-thousand organic producers were identified in the census and those people will be getting another questionnaire in the mail. The surveys are going out now.
House: “And we are asking producers to have it back by the middle of July. So by the end of the year we will have this information back to the public.”
The survey will look at many aspects of organic farming during the 2008 calendar year.
House: “What we are trying to do is get enough information about the organic production that is going on out there to help policymakers, USDA, to really understand what organic production is like. So it has the production itself, what is being produced and how much of it. So fruits and vegetables, livestock, grain crops, horticulture crops. All those things asking for the production. But then in addition to the actual production we are asking about the production expenses. We all know that producing commodities organically can cost more than doing them traditionally. So it is important for organic producers to provide information about how much it does cost them to do the extra things that are required for organic production.”
Participants can mail back their forms or complete the survey online at
I’m Bob Hoff and that’s Washington Ag Today on the Northwest Ag Information Network.
