The confidential crop survey from the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) will be arriving in your mailbox soon-and it’s very important that you take the time to complete it.

The number of farmers completing the NASS survey has been declining in recent years-and that’s bad news for farmers. Survey results are important in determining the implementation of farm payments and programs you depend on-from the Agriculture Risk Coverage Program (county option) to the Price Loss Coverage Program-even farm appraisals.

If NASS does not receive an adequate number of farmer-completed surveys from your county, they must use other less reliable sources of data to calculate the actual production numbers that impact you. With fewer farmers completing surveys, NASS is already unable to publish reliable data for many counties and – if the trend continues – many more are at risk.

Farm programs and payments are too important to rely on third party sources and best guesses. That’s why it’s so very important that farmers provide their information.

This is about your bottom line. Take the time to complete the NASS crop survey. Play an active role in ensuring fair implementation of farm programs in your county.