Kentucky Ag News
NASS seeks feedback about 2017 crops, stocks, inventories, values
National Agricultural Statistics Service
LOUISVILLE - During the next several weeks, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) will conduct two major mid-year surveys, the June Agricultural Survey and the June Area Survey. The agency will survey nearly 1,900 farms and an additional 250 segments of land across Kentucky to determine crop production and supplies levels in 2017.
“The focus of these surveys is field crop acreage and grains in storage,” explained David Knopf, director of the NASS Eastern Mountain Regional Office in Kentucky. “Understanding what the 2017 production might be and knowing what grain is still in storage is important for marketing decisions. I think this information is especially useful this year given the large supply of corn, soybeans and wheat yet to be marketed from last year’s crop.”
National Association of State Department of Agriculture (NASDA) enumerators gather the data for NASS for the June Agriculture Survey online, by mail, phone and in-person interview. For the June Area Survey, agency representatives visit randomly selected tracts of land and interview the operators of any farm on that land. Together, these surveys will make available an objective snapshot of agricultural crop acreages, grain stocks, and other agricultural production in the state.
NASS will compile and analyze the survey information and publish the results in a series of USDA reports, including the annual Acreage report and quarterly Grain Stocks report, both to be released June 30, 2017. Survey data contribute to NASS’s monthly and annual Crop Production reports, as well as the annual Small Grains Summary and USDA’s monthly World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates.
“I urge them to respond to these surveys and thank them for their cooperation,” Knopf added. “We recognize this is a hectic time for farmers, but the information they provide helps U.S. agriculture remain viable and capable. NASS safeguards the privacy of all responses and publishes only state- and national-level data, ensuring that no individual operation or producer can be identified."
For more information on NASS surveys and reports, call the NASS Eastern Mountain Regional Field Office at (800) 928-5277, or click here.