Non-substantive Change Request

February 2017

Non-substantive Change Request

(0535-0039) Fruit, Nuts and Specialty Crops - Coffee

Following the completion of the Coffee Milling Inquiry and the Coffee Production and Disposition Inquiry, which were both conducted in December of 2016, the NASS Hawaii Office requested a non-substantive change to the next questionnaire cycle. This is in response to feedback we received from Hawaii coffee producers/millers.

NASS is currently approved to conduct both surveys twice a year. The survey conducted in December is a preliminary survey, collecting data for coffee beans that were grown and processed in the current production cycle (2016 - 2017). In May final data is collected for coffee beans that were grown during the 2016 – 2017 production cycle.

Nearly all of the milling companies are also growers. Some of the growers said that it would be much easier for them if we just sent them one combined questionnaire in May and December. The new combined questionnaire contains basically the same questions as the two individual questionnaires. Some minor changes were made to the wording to make the questionnaire flow smoothly. Mill operators who do not produce coffee will simply skip over the additional questions that do not pertain to them.

The estimated sample size for the combined survey is expected to decrease by 75 operators. Since the survey is conducted twice a year the total number of responses will go down by 150. The total burden hours will go up by approximately 32 hours, which is due to the slightly longer questionnaire that is estimated to take an average of 20 minutes to complete per respondent.