It is one of those busy years for the agriculture industry regarding government reports. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is looking to have farmers finish up their 2022 Census of Agriculture forms and have them sent back. Congress is debating the 2023 Farm Bill. Both things will have an impact on agriculture. What may be disheartening though, is that the Census of Ag data will not be available for the Farm Bill negotiations. This means that Congress is using data from 2017 in 2023.
USDA National Ag Statistics Service (NASS) Administrator Herbert Hamer talked about the timing of the data release. He said that not only is the data behind schedule, but they are still accepting answers for last year?s census. This means the release date of February 2024 will be after the Farm Bill is put into place for the next five years.
There may be a concern that this information being released behind the Farm Bill implementation could be detrimental to getting the programs we need to be funded correctly. Hamer says that this Census is not the only report that NASS files and that much more data is available for Congress to use. He says NASS does not want to rush the census results for the sake of the Farm Bill.
The counterargument may be that there has been such a difference in agriculture?s financial situation since 2017, that having the new Census data available for the Farm Bill would be prudent. However, relying on one report is something we hope that Congress will not do during the Farm Bill Discussions.
