Every five years, the USDA undertakes the significant task of getting information from literally every farmer in the Census of Agriculture.
“It’s really our one shot at getting the most comprehensive, uniform information. Not only for our nation, but for every state and every county,” says Barbara Rater, the director of the Census of Agriculture for USDA’s Statistics Service. “The more robust and the more information we have, the better decisions that are made that impact our farmers and producers. So, we take that very seriously.
Rater says mailings went out last week to every farmer across the US that sold over $1,000 in product this year, “talking about the census and giving each person that receives a letter a code that allows them to go online and complete the census online.”
Rater says going online is the best way to complete the survey because it’s the most efficient, secure, and convenient.
USDA will still be mailing out over 3 million paper surveys by mail for those not wanting to complete the information online.
USDA officials are hopeful you’ll get that information back to them by mid-February.
Source: USDA Radio News
