California Farmers Surveyed on Chemical Use

Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) will be calling on California fruit growers, for the biennial Fruit Chemical Use Survey.

About 2400 California growers will be asked about bearing acreage, pest management practices, fertilizer types, and application rates for more than 21 fruit crops.

Curt Stock is Deputy Director of the NASS Pacfic Regional Field Office in Sacramento

We do this every other year. Last year we did it on vegetables. We’re giving growers the opportunity to provide information and illustrate the industry’s environmental practices. Another key thing is to ensure the quality of the US foods to consumers. Every year you hear that the US food crop is the most safe and secure food out there. We got to figure out a way to do that and the best way to do that is through data.

“Growers benefit from providing this information because it is used to re-register products for their use,

NASS representatives will contact growers to arrange in-person interviews. The results of this survey will be available in aggregate form no individual operation or producer will be identified.

In total, about 6000 farmers in 12 states will be surveyed over the next few weeks .