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Check Your Mail: USDA to Conduct Study About Ag Producers

The U.S. Department of Agriculture conducts many studies and research projects to find out more information about our nation’s producers. This month, the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) is conducting the 2021 Farm Producer Study to improve knowledge and understanding of agricultural producers and help USDA improve services to them.

A brief questionnaire will mail this month to approximately 75,000 U.S. agricultural producers across the country. Taking no more than 10 minutes to complete, the questionnaire asks participants for demographic and basic farm information. Producers can respond securely online or by mail. The deadline for response is Jan. 18, 2022.

“Participation in this study is voluntary yet vital,” said Census and Survey Division Director Barbara Rater. “The results of the study may lead to more robust demographic data products to assist other federal agencies, state and local governments, researchers, and analysts in administering and monitoring program effectiveness for the optimal support of diversity within American agriculture.”

NASS conducts studies like this to determine what questions to incorporate in future censuses and surveys. This study includes questions about race, ethnicity, gender, and disability status. By responding, farmers help paint a more complete picture of who they are and ensure agriculture in America is reflected as accurately as possible to meet the needs of all our producers. Study results will be posted on the NASS website as a research report in the Education and Outreach section next year. No official estimates will be published from this study.

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Trending Video

Learning to Wrench From Dad the Hard Way

Video: Learning to Wrench From Dad the Hard Way



Harvest is a week out and the farm picked this week to fall apart. The truck needs a battery, the barn curtain's got a problem, and the corn and beans are telling us we're out of time to get it all fixed.

So it's a full day of wrenching. Tork supervises while I get the truck back running, then we're out at the hog barn where one rusted up part has the whole curtain system hung up. Ladder work, cable work, and a little dad-and-son disagreement about the right way to do it. We close it out walking the fields, shelling beans and checking corn, because whether everything's fixed or not, harvest starts when harvest starts.

Chapters: 00:00 Everything breaks the week before harvest 01:00 Tork supervises while I fix the truck 12:30 Out to the barn to find the curtain problem 14:30 One rusty part hung up the whole curtain 20:00 Running the curtain cable from the ladder 24:00 Walking the beans and corn before harvest 26:30 Wrapping up

We're a 6th generation family farm in southeast Iowa showing the real ups and downs of pig farming and row crop farming. No script, just the work. Subscribe and follow along.

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