LOUISVILLE, Ky. – USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service began mailing the annual Row Crops County Agricultural Production Survey today, one of the agency’s larger surveys that queries more than 9,200 Kentucky farmers about acres planted, acres harvested and production for their 2016 corn, soybeans, hay and tobacco crops.

“Data are collected from late October through the end of December,” said David Knopf, director of the NASS Eastern Mountain Regional Office in Kentucky. “The data collected from this survey are combined with data from our December Agricultural Survey to set the county estimates.”

NASS’s county estimates are used in conjunction with other USDA agencies’ estimate calculations to set standards for insurance and risk protection programs many farmers rely on to protect their operations.

“Farm Service Agency (FSA) relies on the county-level estimates for Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC), Price Loss Coverage (PLC), County Loan Rates, and its disaster program calculations,” Knopf said. “The Risk Management Agency (RMA) uses the data for administering the Area Risk Protection Insurance Plan, establishment of transitional yields, and determining when to make crop loss insurance payments. When drought and flooding impact crop production, or even in a year with good yields, these data are crucial to the agriculture industry.”

As an alternative to mailing the survey back and to help save both time and money, growers will have the option to respond to the survey securely online. Farmers may also receive a phone call from a NASS representative who will interview operators using the survey form.

NASS safeguards the privacy of all respondents and publishes only aggregate data, ensuring that no individual operation or producer can be identified.

Survey results will be published on corn and soybeans in February 2017, hay in April 2017 and tobacco in May 2017. These and all Kentucky NASS reports are available online at https://www.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_State/Kentucky/. For more information, call the NASS Kentucky Field Office at 1-800-928-5277.