2017 Census of Agriculture is Coming

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Be Counted in the 2017 Census of Agriculture

In just a few months, America’s farmers and ranchers will have the opportunity to make a positive impact on their operations and communities by taking part in the Census of Agriculture. Conducted every five years by the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), the census captures a complete count of all U.S. Farms and ranches and those who operate them. You can find the results of the 2012 Census of Agriculture at https://www.agcensus.usda.gov/.

The Census of Agriculture provides a unique picture of U.S. agriculture since it shows the contributions of farms of all sizes at the county, State, and national level. It is also the main source for demographic data (age, sex, race/ethnicity) of U.S. farmers.

NASS is in the final stage for preparing the 2017 Census of Agriculture mailing list. If you are new to farming or didn’t receive a 2012 Census of Agriculture questionnaire there is still time to be counted by signing up at https://www.agcounts.usda.gov/cgi-bin/counts/.  Simply click on the ‘Make Sure You Are Counted’ button below and provide the requested information.

For those of you that work with immigrant or refugee farmers and ranchers and language may be an obstacle, I encourage you to work with your Regional or State Statistician. You can find contact information at https://www.nass.usda.gov/, locate your State in the drop down box in the U.S. map, then follow the Contact link on the left side of the page. For those of you in the New England States, I plan to be contacting you in the next couple of weeks or you can contact me at the gary_keough@nass.usda.gov.

All individual information provided to NASS is confidential and only used for statistical purposes. In accordance with the Confidential Information Protection provisions of Title V, Subtitle A, Public Law 107-347 and other applicable Federal laws, your responses will be kept confidential and will not be disclosed in identifiable form to anyone other than employees or agents. By law, every employee and agent has taken an oath and is subject to a jail term, a fine, or both if he or she willfully discloses ANY identifiable information about you or your operation.