The most ambitious and important agricultural survey of all is getting underway in Oregon and the rest of the fifty states as the 2017 Census of Agriculture literally reaches out to every farmer and rancher in the United States. “The Census of Agriculture is USDA’s largest data collection endeavor, providing some of the most widely used statistics in the industry,” says US Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue. “Collected in service to American agriculture since 1840, the census gives every producer the opportunity to be represented so that informed decisions can support their efforts to provide the world with food, fuel, feed, and fiber. Every response matters.” The Census of Agriculture, conducted by the US Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), takes place every five years, and even though this one is considered the 2017 census, the actual results and reports won’t be completed until early 2019. That’s because of the huge amount of information and details that need to be gathered and analyzed. Oregon Department of Agriculture Director Alexis Taylor encourages the state’s producers to cooperate with the census and respond to the questionnaire being sent to them and more than 3 million US producers over the next several weeks.
