USDA to expand acreage surveys to more US farmers
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Corn stalks are seen on a corn and soybean farm in Woodburn, Indiana, U.S., October 16, 2020. Picture taken October 16, 2020. REUTERS/Bing Guan
By Julie Ingwersen
CHICAGO, April 22 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Agriculture plans to survey more farmers for some of its key U.S. crop reports following a drop in the response rate for its March 31 plantings report, officials with the agency's statistical arm said in a public data users' meeting on Wednesday.
The USDA faced criticism over the reliability of its data after making unprecedented increases in January to corn acreage estimates for the 2025 crop.
Last month, the response rate for the USDA's March 31 planting intentions report was 37.6%, down from 44.3% last year and the lowest on record for that survey, the agency's National Agricultural Statistics Service said.
Pending approval from the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, the USDA wants to increase the sample size of farmers surveyed for its June 30 acreage report by about 35%, and by 10% for subsequent reports in September, December and March.
"This should substantially boost our usable reports and increase the precision for major field crop estimates," Joseph Parsons, administrator of the USDA's statistics service, said at the data meeting.
In addition, the USDA plans to add more "plain language" information to its reports about the level of uncertainty associated with key statistics, Parsons said.
Separately, the USDA plans to launch a yearly report, possibly starting this autumn, on how its forecasts for major crops compared to final totals determined after the end of the marketing year, Deputy Secretary Stephen Vaden told the meeting.
The agency sought public comments on its statistical programs in a "Request for Information" survey between February 23 and April 9 and is still studying the findings, said Parsons and other officials at the meeting.
(Reporting by Julie Ingwersen in Chicago; Editing by Eileen Soreng)
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