America’s farmers and ranchers will soon have the opportunity to strongly represent agriculture in their communities and industry by taking part in the 2017 Census of Agriculture, a recent U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) media release said.
Conducted every five years by the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), the census is a complete count of all U.S. farms, ranches, and those who operate them.
According to USDA officials, the census is planned to be mailed out by the end of this year.
“The Census of Agriculture remains the only source of uniform, comprehensive, and impartial agriculture data for every county in the nation,” NASS Administrator Hubert Hamer said. “As such, census results are relied upon heavily by those who serve farmers and rural communities, including federal, state and local governments, agribusinesses, trade associations, extension educators, researchers, and farmers and ranchers themselves.”
The census helps to highlight land use and ownership, operator characteristics, production practices, income and expenditures, and other topics. The 2012 Census of Agriculture revealed that over three million farmers operated more than two million farms, spanning over 914 million acres, the USDA release said.
“This was a four percent decrease in the number of U.S. farms from the previous census in 2007,” according to the release. “However, agriculture sales, income, and expenses increased between 2007 and 2012. This telling information and thousands of other agriculture statistics are a direct result of responses to the Census of Agriculture.”
Source : American Tribune