The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service plans to contact about 1,500 Mississippi producers at the end of February to get an idea of what crops they plan to grow in the coming year.

“Each year, the agriculture industry eagerly awaits USDA’s Prospective Plantings report,

which provides the first survey-based estimates of U.S. farmers’ planting intentions for the year,” said NASS’ Mississippi State Statistician Esmerelda Dickson. “The March Agricultural Survey provides the factual data that underpins these projections, making it one of the most important surveys we conduct each year.”

NASS will mail the survey questionnaire this month and ask producers to provide

information about the types of crops they intend to plant in 2022, how many acres they intend to plant, and the amounts of grain and oilseed they store on their farms. 

NASS encourages producers to respond online or by mail. Those producers who do not respond by Feb. 26 may be contacted for a telephone interview by a National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) enumerator.

In accordance with federal law, NASS keeps responses confidential and publishes data in aggregate form only, ensuring that no individual operation or producer can be identified.

Survey results are published in the Prospective Plantings and quarterly Grain Stocks

and Rice Stocks reports March 31. 

These and all NASS reports are available online at www.nass.usda.gov/Publications. For more information, call the NASS Delta Regional Field Office at 800-327-2970.