National Agricultural Survey/ Hilo USDA Closing

[whalesong]

Has anyone received a 2012 National Agricultural Classification Survey from the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service in the mail? My friend owns a farm and called me to ask me if I had received one. She said, they ask 25 nosey questions about how many of each animal we have on our farm i.e. cows, chickens, beehives, turkeys, sheep, goats, horses etc., how much we spend in our "operation" every year, and how much we plan to make this year.

They also ask if we have internet access, how many "operators" are involved in the decision making of our "operation" how many acres we have, how many are pasture land or wooded, do we have greenhouse plants, grain storage and how many animals do we sell each year....and on and on.

She was told on the first page of the survey that it is required by law to fill out this form, or they will get a phone call or someone will show up at our door (to count our animals themselves?) This is ridiculous, and I believe it goes against our Constitutional rights.

I think we ought to get this information to anyone who has animals and receives one of these forms. If enough of us refuse to fill out this form it will be a very good thing.

http://www.nass.usda.gov/About_NASS/Regu.../index.asp

[Radiopeg]

I had a similar survey last year for a family piece of land in Colorado. If people want agriculture to be successful, I would think they would want the information known about how much agriculture is seriously going on. Luckily we lease our land out, so I could check "rented" and be done with it. Easy peazy for me. (Maybe they'll add this info to the Driver's license information and make a bigger file on us.) [] I am surprised with all the ag lots here, they aren't bugging us all.

[whalesong]

quote:

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Originally posted by Radiopeg

(Maybe they'll add this info to the Driver's license information and make a bigger file on us.) [] I am surprised with all the ag lots here, they aren't bugging us all.

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Well, it appears we won't be needing to worry about it anytime soon. USDA will be closing the Hilo office.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) must be built to meet the evolving needs of a 21st century agricultural economy, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Monday in presenting USDA’s Blueprint for Stronger Service, a plan that helps producers continue to drive America’s economy by streamlining operations and cutting costs.
“The USDA, like families and businesses across the country, cannot continue to operate like we did 50 years ago,” Vilsack said. “We must innovate, modernize, and be better stewards of the taxpayers’ dollars. We must build on the record accomplishments of farm communities in 2011 with a stronger, more effective USDA in 2012 and beyond.”
The plan will affect the Big Island, as the Hilo hub is one of 43 area and sub offices slated to be closed.

http://www.hawaii247.com/2012/01/10/usda...lo-office/

[janeadams]

Let's clarify this -- "closing the Hilo office" does not mean what you might think. If you read the article and subsequent references, they are NOT closing the Hilo APHIS office. That would effectively shut down the East Hawaii floral/foliage trade, and any fruit exports as well. They'd have to be stupid to do that as Japan was just opened to our papaya industry. Closing APHIS would terminate our ability to ship our nursery plants internationally.

What they ARE shutting down is the Hilo RD office -- that's research and development office. Not that I like the idea of losing that office that benefits the Big Island, but it is a much better choice. It could well be run more centrally and still continue to do good things in the future.

Jane Adams
White Cloud Nursery

[Midnight Rambler]

RD is Rural Development, not research. The research office in Hilo will stay open (I believe it's part of APHIS). At the bottom of this page are links to fact sheets with lists of offices that will be closed.

[allensylves]

The PBARC Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center is part of ARS Agricultural Research Service. APHIS is the inspection and quarantine part of USDA, although they also do some research, but more often work with ARS.

Allen
Finally in HPP