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KFB
Guest Blog
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Eldon Thiessen is the State
Director of the Kansas Field Office for the
National Agricultural Statistics Service,
U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Ag Census a
grower's friend
Eldon
Thiessen
12/12/07
Census of Agriculture:
Your Voice, Your Future, Your Responsibility
If you are
involved in farming or ranching, chances are
that you will soon receive a 2007 Census of
Agriculture report form in your mailbox. I
don’t expect to convince you to rip open the
census envelope with the same warm
sentiments and gusto you reserve for holiday
cards. But accurately completing your census
form is important.
The National
Agricultural Statistics Service, an agency
within the U. S. Department of Agriculture,
is responsible for collecting and publishing
official agricultural statistics. Many of
you are familiar with the monthly crop
production, grain stocks, cattle on feed,
and hog and pig reports – to name a few
reports that NASS publishes. In addition,
every 5 years, USDA is charged with the
responsibility of benchmarking and
documenting the direction of agriculture by
conducting the Census of Agriculture. This
confidential data is collected directly from
operators at all levels of production.
Published to county and even zip code
levels, the results are made available to
all segments of the economy, without
disclosing individual information. The
census provides the most comprehensive
snapshot of each state’s agriculture down to
the county level and is the only official
source of demographic information on farm
and ranch operators.
I am often
asked, “Why can’t you just get the
information from the Farm Service Agency?”
Well, I wish it were that easy! The FSA
sign-up information available covers only a
small slice of the data needed for the
census. Moreover, many farms are not
represented by the FSA data. Often we think
of agriculture as only large crop or
livestock farms that dominate the news and
farm bill debates. But USDA defines a farm
as “any operation that produces and
sells, or could sell, at least $1,000 worth
of agricultural production” Did you know
that 59 percent of U.S. farms sell less than
$10,000 worth of agricultural production?
Small farms and acreages represent an
important segment of the rural economy. With
more than 1 million operations selling less
than $5,000 worth of production, rural
lifestyle and mainstream agriculture join
forces to represent the entire food and
fiber industry. The census is your voice to
be heard as a key part of the Kansas and
U.S. rural economy.
Data collected
in the Census affects your future. Census
information is used extensively by state and
federal legislators, local officials, farm
organizations, commodity groups, input
suppliers, commodity handlers, processors,
retailers, exporters, foreign customers,
universities and scientific organizations,
domestic consumers, food assistance
advocates, and rural communities. They make
decisions and take actions every day that
directly affect you as a producer. Those
decisions and actions affect farm program
dollars, public and private grant monies,
land-use planning decisions, disaster
declarations and payments, crop insurance,
conservation efforts, placement of stores,
processing facilities, and specific local,
state and national initiatives to assist
producers.
Do you want
those decisions to be based on facts or on
someone’s opinion – or even worse, on
“statistics” that have been provided by
someone with an agenda to advance?
I sometimes
hear, “Oh well, we would be better off
without those official statistics, then no
one would really know.” Don’t believe the
myth of the “vacuum argument.” Having
official statistics available is more
important now than every before. Agriculture
is an industry unlike any other.
Who holds the
cards in the information department?
Producers? No, it is those with the hefty
resources and technology capabilities who
make it their business to know where, how
much, and how good it is out there. Without
unbiased, official USDA statistics, there
would be information aplenty, but you’d
better beware of its source and quality.
All census and
survey information provided to NASS remains
confidential. Respondents are guaranteed by
law under Title 7 of U.S. Code that their
individual information will be kept
confidential. NASS uses the information only
for statistical purposes and publishes data
only in tabulated totals. Your census
response cannot and will not be used for
purposes of taxation, investigation, or
regulation. The privacy of individual Census
records is also protected from disclosure
through the Freedom of Information Act.
NASS
offices will spend next year collecting,
analyzing, and summarizing data from over
three million census forms. Release of the
results is scheduled for February 2009.
Detailed reports will be published for all
counties, major watersheds, congressional
districts, states and the nation. Data from
past censuses and all recent NASS surveys
are available at
www.nass.usda.gov. NASS also works with
farm groups and others to create special
tabulations of census data that address a
particular policy issue or inform decision
makers on a key issue. All special
tabulations still comply with NASS
confidentiality standards and are made
available to everyone.
I haven’t
mentioned that responding to the Census of
Agriculture is mandatory by law. The reason
is that I much prefer that you complete your
census form because you know the results are
valuable to you and to all of agriculture.
In order for your segment of the industry to
be represented, it is up to you. Remember,
this is your voice, your future and your
responsibility.
Beginning in
early January, the Census report forms will
arrive in mailboxes throughout rural
America. We ask that you return your form by
February 4, 2008. You can mail it back or,
for the first time, you have the option of
responding online via a secure web site,
saving both time and return postage costs.
Whichever way you choose to respond, please
fulfill your responsibility to fill out the
census questionnaire promptly and
accurately.
Eldon Thiessen
is the State Director of the Kansas Field
Office for the National Agricultural
Statistics Service, U.S. Department of
Agriculture. Get more information about the
census online at
http://www.agcensus.usda.gov/ by calling (888)
424-7828 or by contacting Thiessen’s office
in Topeka, KS at (800) 258-4564. |
