USDA surveying Illinois farmers

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service is gathering information about crop production practices from producers across Illinois, as part of the 2023 Agricultural Resource Management Survey.

“ARMS is a vital survey that tracks how Illinois farms use technology to manage production of their major field crops,” said Mark Schleusener, Illinois state statistician.

“The data from this survey also help policymakers and farm groups understand the factors driving the costs and returns of crop production.”

This year, NASS is reaching out to survey a sample of barley, oat, peanut and soybean producers across the country.

In Illinois, the project will focus on oats and soybeans with sample sizes of 100 and 300 farms for those two crops. NASS recommends that farmers have their fertilizer and pesticide application records available to speed up the survey process.

A NASS representative will call producers to set up an interview to assist in the completion of the questionnaire. Producers may also receive an email reminder if they opted for email service.

ARMS is conducted in three phases, from May 2023 through April 2024. The first phase screened participants to make sure they have the commodity of interest and would accurately represent the entire U.S. farm sector. In this current phase, NASS is collecting information on production practices.

In the final phase, NASS will survey producers on cost of production, farm income and production expenditures. NASS safeguards the privacy of all respondents.

The information provided will be used for statistical purposes only. In accordance with federal law, survey responses will be kept confidential and will not be published in identifiable form.