Draft News Release for 2011 ARMS III

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 MEASURE THE ECONOMIC WELL-BEING OF AMERICAN FARMS

[CITY, STATE] – The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) will spend the next several months contacting farmers and ranchers across the nation to conduct the Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS). The results of this survey will serve as a baseline for numerous federal policies and programs that affect U.S. farms and farm families.

“ARMS is our primary tool for gauging the financial condition and production practices on American farms and ranches,” said [FirstName LastName], director of the NASS [State] Field Office. “By participating in this survey, [state] farmers directly impact the decisions that affect them, their families and their operations.”

NASS conducts ARMS jointly with USDA’s Economic Research Service. In an effort to obtain the most accurate data, the federal agencies will reach out to nearly 35,000 producers nationwide, including [sample size] in [State], between [Dates or Months of Data Collection]. The survey asks the producers to provide data on their operating expenditures, production costs and household characteristics.

“Decision makers from all facets of U.S. agriculture will use the collective information from ARMS to answer questions and make important decisions concerning the economic viability of American agriculture, the rural economy and other emerging issues,” explained [Last name.] “That’s why it is imperative for all farmers contacted by NASS to provide responses and help shape the future of U.S. agriculture.”

As with all NASS surveys, information provided by respondents is confidential by law. NASS safeguards the confidentiality of all responses, ensuring no individual respondent or operation can be identified.

The economic data gathered in ARMS will be published in the annual Farm Production Expenditures report on August 2, 2012. All NASS reports are available online at www.nass.usda.gov.

NASS provides accurate, timely, useful and objective statistics in service to U.S. agriculture. The agency invites you to express your thoughts and provide occasional feedback on our products and services by joining a data user community.  To join, sign in at http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/subscriptions and look for “NASS Data User Community.”

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