December Crops/Stocks News Release

NEWS RELEASE

United States Department of Agriculture

NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS SERVICE

[STATE NAME] FIELD OFFICE

[ADDRESS]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	Contact: [Firstname] [Lastname]
[Month ##], [Year]	(XXX) XXX-XXXX

USDA TO COLLECT FINAL 2010 CROP PRODUCTION NUMBERS

[CITY, STATE] – It’s that time of year again, as the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) prepares to contact producers nationwide to gather final year-end production numbers. With soybean and corn production forecasted at record and near-record level highs, respectively, it’s vital for farmers to respond to the December Agricultural Survey to determine if these expectations were realized.

“The December Agricultural Survey is the largest and most critical year-end survey conducted by NASS,” explained [FIRSTNAME LASTNAME], director of the NASS [STATE] Field Office. “This survey is the basis for the official USDA estimates of production and harvested acres of all major agricultural commodities in the United States.

“With a potential record-setting crop year, data from the December Agricultural Survey will benefit farmers by providing timely and accurate information to help them make critical year-end business decisions and begin planning for the next growing season,” added [LASTNAME].

During the first two weeks of December, NASS will contact selected [STATE] producers by mail or telephone and ask them to provide information on their 2010 production and on-farm stocks of [STATE SPECIFIC COMMODITIES]. The information will be compiled and analyzed and then published in a series of USDA reports, including the annual Crop Production summary and quarterly Grain Stocks report, both to be released on January 12, 2011.

As with all NASS surveys, information provided by respondents is confidential by law. “NASS safeguards the confidentiality of all responses and publishes only state- and national-level data, ensuring that no individual operation or producer can be identified,” stated [LASTNAME].

All reports are available on the NASS web site: www.nass.usda.gov. For more information on NASS surveys and reports, call the NASS [STATE] Field Office at [TOLL-FREE NUMBER].

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