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USDA NASS urges farmers to respond

USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service is reminding farmers to respond when they are contacted for survey requests.

Director of National Operations Joseph Prusacki tells Brownfield USDA farm service program offerings are directly related to data collected from farmer surveys.  “If we don’t get a high enough response rate in a particular county we can’t publish a number—well that leaves a little bit of a gap in the data for these other programs offered by other USDA agencies.”

He says accurate NASS data is vital when planning for the 2018 farm bill and is directly connected to what type of resources farmers will have access to.  “Decisions will be made with or without data and I would really like to have decisions made with data.”

Prusacki says NASS has experienced a decline in farmer responses over time and they are currently looking into what issues can limit farmer feedback. He says once they get in touch with farmers, generally they are willing to respond to surveys, but having access to ways contact farmers directly is a limiting factor.

AUDIO: Interview with Joseph Prusacki