Sample News Release - Agricultural Survey News Release

NEWS RELEASE

United States Department of Agriculture

NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS SERVICE

[FIELD OFFICE NAME] FIELD OFFICE

[ADDRESS]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	Contact: [Firstname] [Lastname]
	(XXX) XXX-XXXX

USDA to survey farmers’ planting intentions for 2023

[CITY, STATE] – [Month ##], [Year] – As the 2023 crop production season begins, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) will contact producers nationwide to determine their plans for the upcoming growing season.

“Each year, the agriculture industry anticipates USDA’s Prospective Plantings report, which provides the first survey-based estimates of U.S. farmers’ planting intentions for the year,” said NASS’s [STATE] State Statistician [FIRSTNAME LASTNAME]. “The March Agricultural Survey provides the factual data that underpins these projections, making it one of the most important surveys we conduct each year.”

NASS will mail the survey to [X,XXX] [STATE] producers on Feb. 17, asking producers to provide information about the types of crops they intend to plant in 2023, how many acres they intend to plant, and the amounts of grain and oilseed they store on their farms. Producers can respond online at agcounts.usda.gov or by mail. Those who do not respond by February 27 may be emailed a reminder or contacted for an interview.

In accordance with federal law, NASS keeps responses confidential and publishes data in aggregate form only, ensuring that no individual operation or producer can be identified.

The data will be published in the Prospective Plantings and quarterly Grain Stocks reports on March 31, 2023. These and all NASS reports are available online at www.nass.usda.gov/Publications. For more information, call the NASS [STATE] Field Office at [TOLL-FREE NUMBER].

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NASS is the federal statistical agency responsible for producing official data about U.S. agriculture and is committed to providing timely, accurate and useful statistics in service to U.S. agriculture.

USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.