USDA December Survey

USDA December Survey

I’m KayDee Gilkey with the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report.

In addition to all the Christmas letters and sales promotions, about ninety thousand farmers should also be finding an important USDA survey questionnaire in their mailboxes.

Bass: “Yes, it is right here at the end of the year, and we know farmers and ranchers are busy.”
That is Bob Bass, with the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service's Operations Center in St. Louis. He says most farmers should be able to fill out the survey in fifteen minutes or less. 

Bass: “We’ll ask about harvested acreage, yield, production, grain stored on the farm. For those producers who have lots of different crops, it could take up to 15 minutes. For those producers who have one or two crops, they can skip over the crops they don’t produce and they can finish the questionnaire in five to seven minutes.”
USDA has given farmers a variety of ways to respond.

Bass: “They can either fill out the questionnaire and drop it back in the mail. They can fax it back. The number for faxing is right at the top of the questionnaire. Or they can online with the instructions that are provided to them and at their leisure they can report online.”
This survey is very important because of the drought and crop insurance payouts are based on that information. USDA will use this gathered information for its Crop Report in mid-January. Farmers receiving the survey have until December 15th to respond.