Agricultural News
USDA to Collect Final 2015 Crop Production and Crop Stocks Data
Wed, 02 Dec 2015 15:51:27 CST
As the 2015 growing season comes to an end, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) will contact producers nationwide to gather final year-end crop production numbers and the amount of grain and oilseed they store on their farms. At the same time, NASS will survey grain facility operators to determine year-end off-farm grain and
oilseed stocks.
"These surveys are the largest and most important year-end surveys conducted by NASS," explained NASS's Oklahoma State Statistician, Wilbert Hundl. "They are the basis for the official
USDA estimates of production and harvested acres of all major agricultural commodities in the United States and year-end grain and oilseed supplies. Data from the survey will benefit farmers and processors by providing timely and accurate information to help them make crucial year-end business decisions and begin planning for the next growing and marketing season."
The information will be compiled, analyzed and then published in a series of USDA reports, including the Crop Production Annual Summary and quarterly Grain Stocks report to be released
January 12.
"Responses to the survey will be included in the County Agricultural Production Survey and used in calculating county yields," explained Hundl. "USDA uses county yield information from the survey to evaluate and administer vital farm disaster mitigation and insurance programs such as Price Loss Coverage (PLC) and Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC). Farmers who receive this survey are not included in the County Agricultural Production Survey; therefore this is their only opportunity to be included in the calculation of Oklahoma county yields."
"It is important to stress benefits of these important surveys being conducted in order for accurate information to be recorded in disaster areas for Oklahoma agriculture producers. If factual information from the 2015 crops are not recorded, we have less potential for crop producers to see the benefits of farm disaster mitigation and insurance programs, such as Price Loss Coverage (PLC) and Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC)."stated Mike Schulte, Director of the Oklahoma Wheat Commission. "Information conducted in these inquiries also provide data for the Oklahoma Wheat Variety Survey that is published each spring. The data collected from that particular survey is used to determine the direction the public wheat breeding program at OSU will move towards when decisions are then made for future wheat variety releases."
As with all NASS surveys, information provided by respondents is confidential, as required by federal law. NASS safeguards the privacy of all responses and publishes only aggregate data, ensuring that no individual operation or producer can be identified. These and all NASS reports are available online at www.nass.usda.gov/Publications/.
For more information on NASS surveys and reports, call the NASS Southern Plains Regional Field Office at 1-800-626-3142.
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