0093-flor-15 - SSB

1Supporting Statement

FLORICULTURE SURVEY

OMB No. 0535-0093

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 Floriculture Survey is handled under the "limited coverage" survey plan. Data is collected in the 15 major States, listed below. The 15 states were chosen based on highest amount of data coverage and unique commodities of interest. Following the publication of the 2014 Census of Horticulture (December 2015), NASS will do a complete review of the states included in this annual survey and decide if any changes need to be made.

California North Carolina

Florida Ohio

Hawaii Oregon

Illinois Pennsylvania

Maryland South Carolina Michigan Texas

New Jersey Washington

New York

Growers in these States, and who are on NASS’s List Sampling Frame with annual gross sales of $10,000 or more will be included in the universe. The entire universe will receive the initial mailing with a second-request mailing to non-respondents approximately 2 weeks later and telephone and/or personal follow-ups after that. The sample size, and response rates for each of the surveys are shown in the table below.

NASS used the standardized response rate calculations as identified in the OMB statistical directive (1 and 2), Standards and Guidelines for Statistical Surveys in the calculation of the response rates reported above.

The respondents who reported data and who are in scope, accounted for 73% of the total area operated by floriculture operations in the 15 target states.

The Hawaii short form questionnaire that was previously included in the OMB approval has been incorporated into the standard Hawaii version.

The Hawaii export survey that was conducted as a part of a cooperator agreement made between NASS and the State of Hawaii has been discontinued.

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

Floriculture survey questionnaires are mailed to the target population either in late December or early January (mail dates are left to the discretion of each Regional Field Office (RFO)). Some RFOs will follow this with a second request mailing to non-respondents before beginning telephone follow-up. Large growers having complex operations are often surveyed by personal interview. Data for operations that refuse to respond or are inaccessible are manually estimated based on past reports or information supplied by other informed sources. The survey administrator and commodity statistician in NASS Headquarters has provided editing guidelines and a floriculture Estimation Manual to each RFO. All completed reports are given a preliminary review by the floriculture statistician in each RFO before running the data through a computer edit.

New operations that were in production the year prior to the reference period, but were not contacted for that year’s data, will be asked to provide data for both years during the current year’s survey. RFOs can finalize data from two years prior, while publishing preliminary data for the previous year.

State survey indications and statistician recommendations are reviewed and combined to create US level results for both the previous year’s preliminary data and the final revised estimates for the year prior to that. The summarized data are checked through NASS’s disclosure protocol before the data is published. This insures that no confidential data are published.

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.

The NASS Regional Field Offices (RFOs) in conjunction with our Frames Maintenance Group (National Operations Center in St. Louis, MO) conducts list building efforts for this census-type survey; all available list sources are used to build the universe lists, including information compiled from the 2012 Census of Agriculture and the 2014 Horticulture Census. RFO’s try to develop relationships with their State industries and large floriculture producers to encourage completion of this questionnaire. The survey enjoys significant industry support and producers respond because they are vitally interested in publication of this type of data.

Survey data are subject to non-sampling errors such as omissions and mistakes in reporting and in processing the data. While these errors cannot be measured directly, they are minimized by carefully reviewing all reported data for consistency and reasonableness.

No coverage adjustments are made to account for list incompleteness. Item and unit level non response are addressed by manual imputation by subject matter experts in the RFOs. The summary provides multiple point statistics at both the strata and state level to evaluate the quality of the survey estimates. These include response rates and number of usable positives reports for each item summarized. In cases where recommendations deviate from survey results, RFOs must provide written justification.

Industry representatives have mentioned in the past that the annual Commercial Floriculture Survey (CFS) serves as a strong indicator of change within this industry. The Horticulture Census provides detailed data on both state and national levels. While the CFS is only conducted in 15 key states, the data that is collected represents 74% of the total US floriculture production.

Efforts to reduce non response bias prior to data collection includes extensive enumerator training, survey coordination, initiation of special agreements including but not limited to periods of reduced burden on future surveys. Data users would find this information in methodology and quality measures releases.

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

No testing of procedures or methods is done.

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.

The survey design, sample size, editing, and imputation for each State are determined by the Sampling, Editing, and Imputation Methodology Branch, Methodology Division; Branch Chief is Mark Apodaca, (202)720-5805.

Data collection is carried out by NASS Regional Field Offices; Deputy Administrator for Eastern Field Operations is Jay Johnson (202)720-3638. Deputy Administrator for Western Field Operations is Kevin Barnes (202)720-8220.

The NASS survey statistician in Headquarters for the floriculture survey is Daphne Schauber, (202)720-4215, in the Fruits, Vegetables, and Special Crops Section of the Crops Branch, Statistics Division. She is responsible for coordination of sampling, questionnaires, data collection, data processing, the Estimation Manual, and other RFO support. She is also responsible for national summaries, analysis, presentation to the Agricultural Statistics Board for final estimates, and publication.

September, 2015