Prospective Planting Survey
The numbers crunchers at the USDA are hoping most Colorado producers who received a Prospective Planting Survey will have completed and returned it by the end of this week.
Bill Meyer, Director of the National Agricultural Statistics Service Colorado Field Office.
Meyer:” This survey will be used to measure what producers intend to plant this spring as far as spring crops, like corn, sorghum, dry beans. We’ll also get a measure of how much hay they intend to harvest this year and the grains stock that they have on hand. This survey is so important for the whole ag industry to get an idea of what will be produced in this upcoming year.”
Meyer says they are collecting the data through the first half of March. There is an online reporting tool producers can use or there are hard copies that producers can fill out and send in via mail.
Operators provide data on the total acres they operate, acreage in each commodity of interest, and the amount produced at harvest. Grain and oilseeds stored are asked in the amount stored of each grain or oilseed.
The results of the March Prospective Plantings and Grains Stocks will be released on March 31st.
Another task the Colorado NASS Office is working on is the Cash Rents Survey. The Cash Rents Survey provides the basis for county estimates of the cash rent paid for irrigated and non-irrigated cropland and pasture. The 2008 Farm Bill mandated that NASS provide mean rental rates for all counties with 20,000 acres of cropland plus pasture. NASS conducts the county-level Cash Rents survey every year. The state estimates are released in August.
