Farmers Asked to Complete 2007 Census of Agriculture

More than 40,000 Alabama farmers and 2 million nationally are being asked to participate in the 2007 Census of Agriculture. Farmers who receive a census form are required by law to fill out the census and return it by Feb. 4, 2008.

Max Runge, an agricultural economist with the Alabama Cooperative Extension System, says the census is the most comprehensive source of data on American agriculture.

"The data is used in a number of ways by a wide variety of groups," says Runge. "Government agencies use the information to plan policies and programs. Universities use the data in teaching, research and extension efforts. Businesses and industries use the information to guide them in all aspects of agribusiness from product development and marketing to locating processing and manufacturing plants."

Alabama farmers can expect to receive their census forms in the mail in late December.

Runge urges all farmers to complete the census forms.

"Some farmers are concerned about giving out details of their operations," he says. "It's important they understand that individual information is kept confidential. The National Agricultural Statistics Service, who conducts the census, uses the information only for statistical purposes and publishes data only in tabulated totals."

Specifically, federal laws and regulation prohibit the use of a farmer's individual report for taxation, investigation or regulation.
The Census of Agriculture, conducted every five years, is the only source of uniform agricultural data from the county to the national levels.

Census questions will cover a variety of topics including land use and ownership, irrigated land, crop acreages and quantities harvested, livestock and poultry, value of products sold, payments from federal programs and number of employees.

The Census of Agriculture defines a farm as a place that produced and sold $1,000 or more of agricultural products in 2007.

Farmers who are interested can visit the NASS Web site, www.nass.usda.gov/census/, and review the census forms that will be used in Alabama.

Also available at the NASS Web site is the completed 2002 Census of Agriculture.

The last census in 2002 counted more than 2.1 million farms in the United States and more than a million of those had sales of less than $10,000.

That same census identified more than 45,000 farms in Alabama, down from almost 50,000 in 1997. But in 2002, more farmers worked solely on their farms than in 1997. More than 20,000 producers worked no days at jobs off the farm up 5,000 from 1997.

Posted by at November 28, 2007 09:44 AM | TrackBack