DOVER, Del. - The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) says that they have sent out the 2022 Census of Agriculture paper questionnaires to every known agriculture producer across the county and Puerto Rico.
According to the USDA, Delaware producers can now complete the census online as well by visiting agcounts.usda.gov, with the deadline for responses set for February 6th, 2023.
“We need to hear every producer’s story. Their information matters and every response allow us to accurately tell a comprehensive story about the health and welfare of U.S. agriculture,” said Shareefah Williams, state statistician of the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service, Delaware field office. “Every response is a farmer’s or rancher’s right and opportunity to be heard and counted. They help us by sharing their story.”
The USDA says that the Census of Agriculture remains the nation’s only comprehensive and impartial agriculture data for every state, county, and U.S. territory. They say farm operations of all sizes, urban and rural, which produced and sold, or normally would have sold, $1,000 or more of agricultural products in 2022, are included in the ag census, with the data the collect informing decisions about policy, programs, rural development, research, and more.
Census of Agriculture is the producer’s voice in the future of American agriculture, says the USDA.