by Ben Nuelle
USDA NASS needs farmers input over the next couple of weeks. They will be sending out two major mid-year surveys. Greg Thessen is NASS? State Statistician. He says they have two important surveys they are sending out to Iowa farmers.
?The one is called the June Agriculture Survey and is done by phone. Producers can also report online. The other one is called the June Area Survey and for that survey we are sapling randomly selected pieces of land so we go out and try to find the farmers that are operating that land. That survey is a face to face type interview that NASS interviewers will do.?
Thessen says these surveys will be used for the June acreage report.
?For this, it serves as the first report that farmers actually got planted. Here in Iowa we have as of last Sunday we have over 88 percent of corn and 43 percent of the soybeans planted. By the time we are out there talking to producers, they should have most of the crop in the ground so it gives the first real indication of what the actual acres are that got planted.?
He adds by taking just a few minutes to participate, selected operators can help ensure the accuracy and quality of this data so NASS reports can eliminate speculation.
?Price Volatility we?ve seen over the last month or so due to the problems in South America, everyone is speculating what the acreage numbers are going to be. This is going to put the point on it and provide everyone with what those acreage numbers for the year are going to be and they will be used for the rest of the year as we get into the production estimates.?
All reports are available on the NASS web site at www.nass.usda.gov. For more information on NASS surveys and reports, call the NASS Iowa Regional Field Office at 800-772-0825.
