South Dakota Ag Connection - USDA to Survey County Small Grains Acreage

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USDA to Survey County Small Grains Acreage
South Dakota Ag Connection - 08/16/2019

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) will survey producers in 32 states, including South Dakota, for its County Agricultural Production Survey (CAPS).

The survey will collect information on total acres planted and harvested, as well as yield and production of small grain crops down to the county level. CAPS will provide the data needed to estimate acreage and production of selected crops in the United States.

"The data provided by producers will help federal and state programs support the farmer," said Erik Gerlach, South Dakota state statistician. "I hope every single producer understands the importance of these data and will take the time to respond if they receive this survey. Producers can lose out when there are no data to determine accurate rates for loans, disaster payments, crop insurance price elections and more. NASS cannot publish these important county level estimates when an insufficient number of producers complete and return this survey. Without data, agencies such as USDA's Risk Management Agency or Farm Service Agency do not have information on which to base the programs that serve those same producers."

"As required by Federal law, all responses are completely confidential," Gerlach continued. "We safeguard the privacy of all respondents, ensuring that no individual operation or producer can be identified. Individual responses are also exempt from the Freedom of Information Act."

Producers can respond by mail or on-line via NASS's secure reporting website. Producers that do not respond by mail or on-line will be contacted by NASS to help ensure their county is accurately represented. In 2018, NASS was unable to publish several large producing counties due to a lack of sufficient number of responses. Survey results will be published Dec. 12.

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