Census of Agriculture Underway in Missouri

Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) mailed the 2022 Census of Agriculture paper questionnaires to all known agriculture producers across the nation and Puerto Rico. Last month, producers in the states received their survey codes with an invitation to respond online. Any Missouri producer who did not respond online now has the option to complete the ag census at agcounts.usda.gov or by mail. Producers who have already responded to the 2022 Census of Agriculture online do not need to respond again. The deadline for response is Feb. 6.

“Census results will be used in many ways,” said Robert Garino, Missouri state statistician for USDA-NASS. “Commodity organizations will use them to promote production and export of the products that their members produce. Businesses will use the results to decide where to locate new production and sales facilities. And legislators at the local, state, and federal level will use Census of Ag results to guide them as they do their jobs,” added Garino.

The Census of Agriculture remains the nation’s only comprehensive and impartial agriculture data for every state, county, and U.S. territory. 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. The data inform decisions about policy, programs, rural development, research, and more. The Census of Agriculture is the producer’s voice in the future of American agriculture.

Responding to the Census of Agriculture is required by law under Title 7 USC 2204(g) Public Law 105-113. The same law requires NASS to keep all information confidential, to use the data only for statistical purposes, and only publish in aggregate form to prevent disclosing the identity of any individual producer or farm operation. NASS will release the results of the ag census in 2024.

To learn more about the Census of Agriculture, visit www.nass.usda.gov/agcensus. You can also contact the NASS Heartland Regional Field Office at (800) 551-1014 or nassrfohlr@usda.gov.