The Census of Agriculture is conducted every five years - which means this year USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service will mail out forms to all farms in the U.S. to collect crop production and livestock data for 2012. Audra Hubble is with NASS and says the information collected is confidential…tape
 
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Hubble says the form takes less time for smaller operations than larger operations to fill out - but it typically doesn’t take longer than 30 minutes. NASS tries to get as many responses as possible - but Hubble says phone or field follow-ups may occur to achieve an 80-percent participation rate. Hubble says it’s better to fill out the form sooner than later - since NASS likes to have all data by the end of March.