USDA'S NASS Kicks Off 2020 Growing Season: Your Survey Responses Are Needed

Michael Klamm

USA Rice

WASHINGTON, DC -- As the 2020 crop production season begins, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) will contact producers nationwide to determine their plans for the upcoming growing season.  

"The 2019 rice crop had a 17.5 percent production decline from the previous year," said Eugene Young, director of the USDA NASS Delta Region.  "The Prospective Plantings report will be the first look into the direction farmers plan to take for the 2020 rice crop, and it will show what rice stocks look like as of March 1, 2020, directly from producers and storage operators themselves."

Nearly 80,000 U.S. farmers will be contacted for the March Agricultural Survey.  This survey gathers information on the types of crops producers intend to plant in 2020, how many acres they intend to plant, and the amounts of grain and oilseed they store on their farms.  

In addition to the March Agricultural Survey, NASS will also be conducting a quarterly off-farm Rice Stocks Report.  This report is conducted in rice-producing states and gathers information on the amount of rice stored off-farm.  These surveys are used by commodity markets, university researchers, and farm operators for market assessment, planning, and decision-making.

NASS encourages producers to respond online or by mail, but those who have not responded by February 28 may be contacted for a telephone or personal interview.  NASS safeguards the privacy of all respondents and publishes only aggregate data, ensuring that no individual operation or producer can be identified.  Survey results will be published in the Prospective Plantings and quarterly Grain and Rice Stocks Reports to be released on March 31, 2020.

USA Rice encourages farmers receiving NASS surveys to complete and return them within the deadline to ensure accurate data are used for crop and stocks estimates throughout the year.