ATHENS, GA (USDA/NASS) – The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) will gather information about farm economics and production practices from cotton producers across Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina as part of the 2019 Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS).
“ARMS is a vital survey that tracks how farms use technology to manage production of their major field crops,” said NASS Southern Regional Deputy Director Erika White. “The survey helps policymaker and farm groups understand the factors driving costs of production and returns from crop production.”
NASS enumerators will conduct the survey in-person starting in October and recommend farmers have their fertilizer and pesticide spray records available to speed up the survey process. This year NASS is reaching out to over 600 cotton producers across the Southern region.
The ARMS survey is conducted in three phases from May 2019 through April 2020. The first phase screened participants to make sure they had the commodity of interest and would accurately represent the entire U.S. farm sector. In this current phase, NASS will collect information on production practices and chemical use for the specific commodity mentioned above. In the final phase, NASS will survey producers on cost of production, farm income, and production expenditures.
Data provided by farmers is confidential and protected by law. NASS further safeguards the privacy of all respondents by publishing only aggregate data, ensuring that no individual operation or producer can be identified.
ARMS is a joint effort of NASS and USDA’s Economic Research Service. For more information about the 2019 Agricultural Resource Management Survey visit www.nass.usda.gov/go/arms.
Survey results and all NASS reports are available online at www.nass.usda.gov/Publications. For more information call the NASS Southern Regional Field Office at (800) 253-4419.