0261 - Customer Satisfaction Survey for Census of Ag - Public Affairs - 3-3-2021

Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback” (OMB Control Number: 0535-0261)

_____________________________________________________________________________

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: Focus Group Interviews for the USDA NASS Census of Agriculture.

Sample categories of questions for in-depth interview with eight of USDA NASS Census of Agriculture stakeholder groups.

1. Communications stakeholders currently receive from NASS

• Variety of communications?

  • Categories: direct, print, digital, social, AV, events, environmental / experiential

  • Content types: Thought leadership, community building, etc.

• Quality of communications?

  • Usefulness, appropriateness, production value

• Frequency of communications?

  • Meets my needs, not enough, too much

• Shareability?

  • Audiences: members, peers, media, other stakeholders

  • Formats: highly sharable, somewhat shareable, not very shareable

  • One-off’s / evergreen versus living assets (serial content)

• Audiences

  • Who are we missing? (Ethnicity, gender, veteran, age cohorts, level of farming / ranching experience, geography, crop / livestock choices)

  • Why is that missing audience special and important?

  • What communications needs do they have that aren’t being met?

• Ability to contribute content?

  • Open and straightforward, limited but available, not open or straightforward

• Necessary but missing communications?

  • Formats, content, frequency,

2. NASS as a voice of the agriculture ecosystem: Advocating for and educating about Ag …

• At all levels: what’s going well, what isn’t, what should they do more / less

• In the right places: what’s going well, what isn’t, what should they do more / less

• At the right times: what’s going well, what isn’t, what should they do more / less

• With audiences: what’s going well, what isn’t, what should they do more / less

• With content: what’s going well, what isn’t, what should they do more / less

• With calls to action: what’s going well, what isn’t, what should they do more / less

3. Their own organization’s communications behaviors

• Audiences and proportions: members, community / state / national / industry leadership, media

• Purposes and proportions: education, activation, community-building / partnerships, capacity-building

• Formats and proportions: direct, print, digital, social, AV, events, environmental / experiential

• How they measure the success of their own communications

4. Biggest changes in communications behaviors inside the Ag ecosystem (producers, processors, supplier industry, regulators, legislators, consumers, affinity groups)

• What’s changed the most, and how?

• What changes do you like / dislike, and why?

• What changes should have happened, but haven’t yet?

5. The 2022 Census of Agriculture

• What communications worked best during past Censuses? What didn’t, and why?

• What’s different about the comms environment for this edition of the Census?

  • Peoples’ attitude towards the surveys?

  • Peoples’ attitude towards the federal government?

  • Peoples’ attitude towards the USDA?

  • Peoples’ attitude about other parts of the agriculture industry?

• Would it make a difference if the Census story was told by agriculture itself?

• Who else should farmers/ranchers be hearing from when it comes to the Census?

Page 3 of 3