0249-Organic Production Survey - Part B - 2011

Supporting Statement Part B

ORGANIC PRODUCTION SURVEY (OPS)

OMB No. 0535 - 0249

B. COLLECTION OF INFORMATION EMPLOYING STATISTICAL METHODS

1. Describe (including a numerical estimate) the potential respondent universe and any sampling or other respondent selection method to be used. Data on the number of entities (e.g., establishments, State and local government units, households, or persons) in the universe covered by the collection and in the corresponding sample are to be provided in tabular form for the universe as a whole and for each of the strata in the proposed sample. Indicate expected response rates for the collection as a whole. If the collection has been conducted previously, include the actual response rate achieved during the last collection.

The 2011 Organics Production Survey (OPS) will be a complete census of operations identified as certified organic producers. The 2008 OPS was a census of operations that were classified as either, certified, transitional or exempt (organic sales less than $5,000). The 2008 OPS was mandatory while the 2011 OPS will be voluntary.

Survey	Sample Size	Freq.	Total Contacts	Total Responses	Response Rates
2008 Organic Production Survey	28,939	1	28,939	25,314	87.47%
* The 2008 OPS was mandatory.
* In 2008, approximately 8% of the sample responded by EDR.
* In 2008, the sample consisted of operations that were classified as either certified organic, transitional organic, or exempt from certification (organic sales of less than $5,000).

Estimates for the survey will be computed by weighting the data for each respondent by an expansion factor to account for non-respondents. The target response rate for the 2011 OPS is estimated at 80 percent or higher.

2. Describe the procedures for the collection of information including:

• statistical methodology for stratification and sample selection,

• estimation procedure,

• degree of accuracy needed for the purpose described in the justification,

• unusual problems requiring specialized sampling procedures.

Data Collection: Extensive efforts will be used to maximize response, and thus reduce the extent of non-response adjustment to the survey. Approximately 15,000 forms will be mailed in December 2011 with a second mailing for non-respondents in January 2012. All questionnaires will be keyed from image at the National Processing Center (NPC) in Jeffersonville, IN. The initial mailings will contain the questionnaire, a cover letter, and an Electronic Data Reporting (EDR) instruction sheet. For non-respondents, the follow up mailing will contain another copy of the questionnaire, a cover letter, and an EDR instruction sheet. There will be phone follow up for those who do not respond to the mail requests. There will also be a limited number of face-to-face interviews conducted in an effort to account for coverage area and larger operations.

Stratification: All operations will be stratified based on their organic total value of sales or their organic acres under production. Due to the influence on published totals, extremely large operations will be made “must” records and will be classified in an extreme operator (EO) strata. Operations in an EO stratum that do not respond to the survey will be hand-estimated by Field Office personnel. Due to the diversity of organic

farming operations from state-to-state, the EO definitions will vary by state. Approximately 10% of the total sample size will be targeted for an EO stratum within each State. For all other non-EO strata, there will be a non-response weight applied to the responding operations, in order to account for the non-respondents. This non-response weight will be a simple factor derived by taking the sample size and dividing by the number of responding operations within the sample.

Item Imputation: For individual questions that go un-answered, but are determined to be necessary for a completed report, an imputation algorithm will be utilized. An analyst in a Field Office can trigger imputation by coding a cell value with a “-1”. The algorithm will attempt to place an average in for that cell, using either a strata average or State average for that value.

Weighting: Since this is a Census of certified organic producers, all operations will start off with a weight equal to or approximately one. For the non-EO strata’s each record’s weight may be increased by a non-response factor, described above. This will become the final weight used to generate all published estimates.

3. Describe methods to maximize response rates and to deal with issues of non-response. The accuracy and reliability of information collected must be shown to be adequate for intended uses. For collections based on sampling a special justification must be provided for any collection that will not yield "reliable" data that can be generalized to the universe studied.

A public information campaign will be used for the 2011 OPS. The objective is to make organic producers aware of the survey, its importance to them and the Nation, and to encourage their response. This campaign will work through farm organizations, radio broadcasters, farm press, agribusinesses, and the State offices operated by NASS.

To ensure a high response rate and to reduce the non-response bias in the final 2011 OPS estimates, NASS will attempt to collect data from non-respondents by telephone. A limited number of interviews will be done by personal enumeration. The telephone and personal enumeration activities will begin in mid-January 2012, and extend through much of March 2012.

The targeted population is designed to provide reliable estimates for certified organic producers.

4. Describe any tests of procedures or methods to be undertaken.

Based on the 2008 Organic Production Survey results, improvements were made to the 2011 questionnaire to improve the ease at which the respondent could complete the questionnaire. Limited testing will be conducted on the 2011 questionnaire to fine tune the changes. Approximately 9 or less interviews with producers will be conducted with the intent to clarify and improve the flow and questions on the report form. Additionally, the feedback will provide valuable information to be used for training enumerator staff involved in the follow-up interviewers.

5. Provide the name and telephone number of individuals consulted on statistical aspects of the design and the name of the agency unit, contractor(s), or other person(s) who will actually collect and/or analyze the information for the agency.

NASS is conducting the OPS through its Census and Survey Division: Christina S. Messer, Program Administration Branch Chief, (202)690-8747.

Sample Design was performed by Susan Hicks (202)690-0508, Survey Design by Chris Gottschall (202)720-3159 and Specifications by Curt Stock (202)720-3598 and Adam Cline (202)690-8802.

Data collection is carried out by NASS Field Offices; Western Field Operations Director, Janice Goodwin (202)720-8220 and Eastern Field Operations Director, Norman Bennett (202) 720-3638.

The NASS survey statistician in Headquarters for this survey is Curt Stock, (202)720-3598 in the Census and Survey Division. He is responsible for coordination of sampling, questionnaires, data collection, data processing, and Field Office support.

The NASS commodity statisticians in Headquarters in the Fruits, Vegetable, and Special Crops Section are Fred Granja (202)720-4288 who works on Apples, Chris Hawthorn (202)720-5412 who works on Grapes, and Sarah Speedy (202)720-9085 who will be working on the rest of the Fruits and Vegetables. Anthony Prillaman (202)720-9526 in the Field Crops Section will be working on the Field Crops, Cynthia Price (202)720-6940 in the Livestock Section will be working on livestock, and Tom Kruchten (202)690-4870 in the Poultry and Specialty Commodities Section will be working on Poultry. These statisticians are all located in the Statistics Division. They are responsible for looking at the summary and publication. Linette Lancios (202)720-2641 in the Commodity Section, Statistical Methods Branch is charge of creating the summary.

May 2011

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