Seeking Farmers’ Answers; U.S. Sending Out Agriculture Survey
By BILL GLAUBER
George Washington was a planter, soldier and the first president of the United States.
He also compiled what was reputed to be the country’s first agricultural survey, exchanging letters in 1791 with an Englishman named Arthur Young. Washington surveyed his fellow farmers and planters and provided details of land values, crops, taxes and labor. He wrote, “An English farmer must entertain a contemptible opinion of our husbandry, or a horrid idea of our lands, when he shall be informed that not more than 8 or 10 bushels of Wheat is the yield of an Acre.”
More than 200 years later, American farming has changed radically, but the quest continues to accurately count the nation’s farms and ranches.
The country is gearing up for the 2007 Census of Agriculture, with forms mailed Dec. 28 and due to be completed by Feb. 4. The census, done every five years by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, details land use and ownership, what is being grown and produced, and how much income is generated.
The data are used by the government, businesses and farmers to chart the future course of American agriculture. Everything from access to high-speed Internet to conservation methods is surveyed. Privacy is protected.
Wisconsin has 76,000 farms, but 99,000 questionnaires will be mailed statewide in a bid to find every farmer.
“We’ve spent the last three years building the list,” said Bob Battaglia, director of the Wisconsin Agricultural Statistics Service. “We’re trying to get minority farms that have not been well- counted in the past. We want to count people selling at farmers markets. If someone does get a questionnaire and they’re not farming, they just have to write they’re not farming or they’re attached to another farm.”
According to the USDA Web site, a farm is defined as “any establishment from which $1,000 or more of agricultural products were sold or would normally be sold during the year.”
Some people might not know they must fill out the census, Battaglia said. For example, a farmer might be retired, but if he sells steers for more than $1,000, or a foal brings in more than $1,000, then the questionnaire must be completed, he said.
“The dairy people we know about, the corn people we know about; there are a lot of people who do other things, and this is the only time we talk to them,” Battaglia said.
He said the forms should take about 50 minutes. For the first time, the census can be completed online.
MORE INFORMATION
Go to www.agcensus.usda.gov or call (888) 424-7828
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