NCGA: Answer Upcoming NASS Surveys

The confidential crop survey from the National Agricultural Statistics Service will be arriving in the mailboxes of Southern farmers soon, and it is very important that recipients take the time to complete it, according to the National Corn Growers Association. NCGA says the number of farmers completing the confidential NASS crop survey has been declining in recent years, impacting farmers. Results of the confidential NASS crop survey play a key role in determining the implementation of farm payments and programs, including the Agriculture Risk Coverage Program, Price Loss Coverage Program and even farm appraisals. If NASS does not receive an adequate number of farmer-completed surveys from a certain county, it must use other less reliable sources of data to calculate actual production in that county NCGA says the downward trend in farmer-completed surveys has led to the inability of NASS to publish reliable data in numerous counties across the country. If this continues, NASS may not be able to publish this data for many counties at all.