Source: USDA, 11/13/18

NASS conducts more than 400 surveys each year, but two of our
larger and more impactful surveys are our annual Row Crops County Agricultural
Production Survey and December Agricultural Survey, the results of which are
combined to set our county average yields.

“NASS sets a goal of 80 percent response rate for all surveys but the more responses
we receive, the better, and more accurate our data will be,” said Dee Webb, North
Carolina State Statistician. “This is particularly important for these two surveys, because
if we don’t receive enough reports, we can’t publish county estimates.”

The Row Crops CAPS surveys about 6,500 farmers in North Carolina to find out their
acres planted, acres harvested and production of corn, soybeans, hay, tobacco, and
cotton. This survey is mailed out Nov. 16; the data collection period goes through early
January.

The December Agricultural Survey asks an additional 2,200 North Carolina farmers how
many acres of crops they planted, how many acres they harvested and their yield per
acre. This survey is also mailed out Nov. 16; data is collected Nov. 28 through Dec. 12.

NASS’s county estimates are used with other USDA agencies’ estimate calculations to
set standards for insurance and risk protection programs many farmers rely on to
protect their operations. Farm Service Agency (FSA) relies on county-level estimates for
Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC), County Loan Rates, and its disaster program
calculations. The Risk Management Agency (RMA) uses the data for administering the
Area Risk Protection Insurance Plan, and establishment of transitional yields.

When drought, excessive rain and flooding impact crop production, like this year with
Hurricane Florence and Michael, or even in a year with good yields, these data are
crucial to the agriculture industry.

Farmers have asked how sampling is selected and conducted. Farms are randomly
selected for the surveys with selection to account for all counties and commodities.
Producers are only selected for one of the surveys calculating county estimates during
this survey period. A specific question we’ll get is why aren’t all farmers queried? The
short answer is that we don’t have enough dollars to survey every farmer and still get a 
representative response, so we draw a representative subset of the total. Additionally
with more than 400 surveys a year, how many farmers are going to be excited to see
another survey in the mailbox or another enumerator pulling up to their house? We try
to be judicious of our farmers’ time and the taxpayers’ money.

Once we have all the reported data, it’s reviewed for reasonableness and verifications
are made, if necessary. Summaries combine farm data to allocate previously released
state production and acreage totals to counties. Average yield equals county production
divided by county harvested acres.

NASS offers a four-pronged approach for farmers to respond to surveys: Mail-in,
respond over the phone, face-to-face interviews, and reply online. Follow-up phone calls
begin Nov. 28, if we haven’t received a response in the mail or online. If you receive a
call to answer a survey and aren’t able to access your records or it’s not a good time,
we encourage you to make an appointment for a convenient time to respond.

If you have any questions or concerns, we are always available to help. Dee Webb can
be reached in our office at (919) 733-6333, ext. 215 or Dee.Webb@usda.gov.

We want to provide the most accurate, reliable data, and that’s why we encourage you
to make your voices heard. We need your responses to better serve you and your
operations. Respond and be counted!