Nearly 1000 South Dakota farmers and ranchers should have received the Conservation Practice Adoption Motivations Survey from USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. Producers who haven’t completed the survey as of yesterday (June 13, 2022), may be getting a phone call from NASS to gather the information.
The new survey is a joint project between NASS and USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service aimed at better understanding conservation practice adoption and the role of technical and financial assistance. There are two versions of the survey this year– one requesting information on crop conservation practices and one for confined livestock conservation practices.
South Dakota State Statistician Erik Gerlach says gathering information about farmers’ and ranchers’ motivation for, and adoption of, conservation practices allows USDA to understand the awareness and use of its programs. He says effective implementation of USDA programs helps both producers and conservation efforts.
NASS encourages recipients to respond securely online at www.agcounts.usda.gov, using the 12-digit survey code mailed with the survey. Producers responding online will now use NASS’s new Respondent Portal. On the portal, producers can complete their surveys, access data visualizations and reports of interest, among other things. Completed questionnaires may also be mailed back in the prepaid envelope provided. The survey results will be used to guide the implementation of NRCS programs in the future.
Results from both versions of the survey will be available in September (Sept. 15, 2022) at nass.usda.gov and in NASS’s Quick Stats database at quickstats.nass.usda.gov.
All information reported by individuals will be kept confidential, as required by federal law.
For assistance with the survey, producers can call the NASS South Dakota Field Office at 1-800-582-6443.
Comments