June survey period begins soon
The all-important June agricultural and area surveys from USDA’s NASS are right around the corner as survey work will begin the last day of May and the first days of June. That work will go on for two weeks and then the results will be released at the end of June. Greg Matli with NASS in Indiana says for the most accurate survey, excellent farmer participation is a must.
“Yes, it is farmer participation,” he said. “After all we get all of our information from the farmer, we go right to him. With the weather we’ve been having it could be a pretty hectic time that first week in June, but we rely on their cooperation and try to get the information right from the horse’s mouth, so to speak. There’s no one we can go to, to provide us the information more than that farmer out there actually putting the crop in.”
Growers responses provide essential information for determining the prospective production and supply of major commodities in the United States for the current crop year. The results are based on a survey of 2,000 farmers from the state’s total of over 57,000, and surveys are done by mail, online, telephone and in-person interviews.
Matli says everyone connected to Indiana agriculture is effectively counting on those 2,000 for accurate responses.
“Anyone in agriculture or who has relied on agriculture for their livelihood, these reports are what everyone is looking for to update us on our last report put out the end of March on planting attentions,” he told HAT. “For those people involved in the commodity markets, or grain elevators, seed, anyone that’s involved with agriculture, whether you’re an input provider or you’re using the product as an end user, this information is very valuable.”
Matli is the State Statistician for the NASS Indiana Field Office.
The series of USDA reports, including the annual Acreage report and quarterly Grain Stocks report, will 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.
For the June Area Survey, agency representatives visit randomly selected tracts of land and interview the operators of any farm or ranch on that land. Growers provide information on crop acreage, including biotech crops, as well as grain stocks, livestock inventory, cash rents, land values, and value of sales.
Also notable, “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,” Matli said. “I urge them to respond to these surveys and thank them for their cooperation.”
Hear more from Matli:Greg Matli on June survey period