In light of funding reductions in fiscal year (FY) 2011 and the likelihood of additional reductions in FY 2012, NASS conducted deliberate reviews of all programs against mission- and user-based criteria, aimed at finding cost savings and forward-thinking business efficiencies so that key timely, accurate and useful data remains available in service to agriculture. As a result, the agency is discontinuing or reducing a wide range of agricultural survey programs. The decision to eliminate or reduce these reports was not made lightly, but it was nevertheless necessary, given the funding situation. Because of the timing of the agency's survey work during the coming year, these decisions are necessary now. These programs are:
- Annual Reports on Farm Numbers, Land in Farms and Livestock Operations-Eliminate
- Catfish and Trout Reports-Eliminate all
- Annual Floriculture Report-Eliminate
- January Sheep and Goat Report-Eliminate
- Chemical Use Reports-Reduce frequency of commodity coverage
- July Cattle Report-Eliminate
- Distiller Co-Products for Feed Survey-Cancel
- Annual Bee and Honey Report-Eliminate
- Annual Hops Production Report-Eliminate
- Monthly Potato Stocks Report-Reduce from monthly to quarterly
- Annual Mink Report-Eliminate
- Fruit and Vegetable in-season forecast and estimates-Reduce from monthly and quarterly to annual report
- Nursery Report-Eliminate
- Rice Stocks June and September reports-Eliminate but continue January, March and August reports
Recognizing the importance of NASS's data products and services to U.S. agriculture, NASS will make available similar data either less frequently or within the every five-year Census of Agriculture. The next census will be conducted beginning January 2013 to reflect activities in the 2012 calendar year.
A Federal Register notice announcing the program changes will be forthcoming.
SOURCE: National Agricultural Statistics Service