USDA Collecting Data on Dairy Sector

January 17th, 2017

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Category: Dairy, USDA

cows grazing in a fresh green field 450x299(Wisconsin Ag Connection) – Representatives of the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service are in the process of visiting dairy farms across the nation this month to collect data for the final phase of the 2016 Agricultural Resource Management Survey.

The survey is an annual program that gathers in-depth information on production practices, costs and financial well-being of American farm families. ARMS targets select commodities on a rotational basis. This year, the survey places additional focus on corn, and conventional and organic dairy sectors.

The results of the 2016 ARMS will help USDA and other policymakers analyze the impacts of the new Dairy Margin Protection Program, introduced in the Agricultural Act of 2014. With operational costs driving structural changes within the dairy industry, this new program aims to help dairy producers when milk prices drop and feed prices remain high. USDA launched the program in 2015, making the current survey crucial to measuring its initial effects.

All dairy farmers selected to participate in the 2016 ARMS will be notified by a mailed postcard. After that, trained enumerators will make appointments and visit the participating farms to gather the information through personal interviews. These visits will begin in late January and will continue through early April.

The last time ARMS focused on the dairy sector was in 2010 and focused only on the conventional dairy sector. This will also be the first time ARMS will include additional focus on the organic dairy production.

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