Cover Letter - NACS - First Mailing - Jan 2017

United States Department of Agriculture

National Agricultural Statistics Service

January XX, 2017

Dear Sir/Madam,

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) is conducting a survey to identify potential U.S. agricultural operations. NASS will use the results of the National Agricultural Classification Survey to conduct the 2017 Census of Agriculture.

Your response to this survey is required by law and will help provide a complete accounting of U.S. agriculture. Please respond by February X, 2017, in either of the following ways:

• Online – Secure online reporting is the easiest, fastest, and safest way to complete the census. Go to www.agcounts.usda.gov, read the message; then click the arrow to complete the survey. Enter your unique 17-digit response code from the census mailing label, then click “Continue.”

• By mail – Fill out the census form and return it in the envelope provided.

To help get you started, below are answers to common questions about the survey:

• Even if you do not think of yourself as a farmer or rancher, your operation is a farm if it meets the Census of Agriculture definition – an operation that sold or normally would have sold $1,000 or more of agricultural products in a year.

• If you own or rent agricultural land, grow vegetables, grow horticultural or floricultural products, have fruit or nut trees, cattle, horses, poultry, hogs, bees, aquaculture products, or consider yourself a farmer or rancher, we need to hear from you.

• If you are not actively farming, ranching, or engaged in any agricultural activity, please write “Not farming” on the front page of the form and return it in the envelope provided.

• If you receive more than one form, please complete a form for each separate farm operation. If you only have one operation, please complete one form, write “Duplicate” on the others, and return them all in the same envelope.

• If we do not hear from you, we will try to contact you by phone or mail – your participation is that important!

Your responses will be kept confidential as required by federal law. If you have additional questions, call toll free 1-888-424-7828. To learn more, visit www.agcensus.usda.gov.

Thank you for your participation.

Hubert Hamer

Administrator, National Agricultural Statistics Service

United States Department of Agriculture

Enclosures

USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.