Editor’s Note: This is a month
ly column from the Pennsylvania
Ag Statistics Service (PASS), a
field office of USDA’s National
Agricultural Statistics Service
(NASS) in cooperation with the
Pennsylvania Department of Ag
riculture (PDA). The Website is
www. usda.gov/nass/.
SEE YOU AT
AG PROGRESS DAYS
If you are attending Ag Pro
gress Days, please stop by our
booth in the Conservation Educa
tion Tent. We will be there all
three days to provide information
and discuss the use of NASS sta
tistics.
Some of the handouts available
will include “2002 Census of Ag
riculture,” “Aides For Teachers
and Home Schoolers,” “State and
County Ag Profiles And Rank
ings,” Internet access, free e-mail
subscriptions, and samples of re
ports from NASS and the Penn
sylvania Ag Statistics Service.
Ag Census
Screening Under Way
About 600,000 potential farms
and ranches across the country
have recently received a 2002
Farm Identification Survey in the
mail. These are additional names
from the April and May mailings
done last spring.
The intent of the survey is to
identify agricultural operations
for the 2002 Census of Agricul
ture.
Agricultural research, educa
tion services, and programs for
growers all depend on state and
county statistics from the United
States Census of Agriculture! So
it is important to count every
farm even small, part-time, or
hobby farms.
The Farm Identification Sur
vey consists of seven short ques
tions which will help determine
agricultural status. Simple “yes”
or “no” questions will ask about
growing crops or raising livestock
in any quantity. The short survey
should take less than five min
utes to complete and mail in the
postage-paid envelope.
NASS
Agriculture Counts
By Marc Tosiano
Pa. State Statistician
About 50,000 surveys will be
sent to potential farms in Penn
sylvania. In surrounding states,
the approximate counts are as
follows: about 5,000 in New
York, 1,000 in New Jersey, 5,000
in Maryland, 200 in Delaware,
500 in West Virginia, and about
19,000 in Ohio.
Many people who do not con
sider themselves to be farmers or
ranchers actually qualify as farm
ers and are important to the 2002
Census of Agriculture. The term
“farm” includes much more than
just field crops, hay, fruit, vege
tables, cattle, hogs, sheep, goats,
and chickens. Agriculture in
cludes many other products such
as nursery and greenhouse prod
ucts, sod, maple syrup, Christ
mas trees, mushrooms, aquacul
ture, honey, horses, other equine,
llamas, fur-bearing animals, rab
bits, wild game, elk, bison, deer,
exotic livestock, emus, ostriches,
pheasant, and quail.
Some folks say they are retired
from agriculture because they
produce much less crops or live
stock than when they were acti
vely farming. However, for exam
ple, someone who is retired and
now only has a few head of cattle
and cuts a few acres of hay is still
considered an active farm for the
Ag Census.
Responses to the Farm Identi
fication Survey and the 2002
Census of Agriculture are man
datory under Title 7, U.S. Code,
which also assures growers that
all information provided to
NASS is confidential and will not
be provided to any individual, or
ganization, or other government
agency.
The 2002 Census of Agricul
ture forms will be sent to 2.75
million potential farms and
ranches in December 2002. For
additional information about the
Farm Identification Survey or the
2002 Census of Agriculture, get
online at www.usda.gov/nass/ or
call toll-free (888) 4AG-STAT or
(888)424-7828.
Aquaculture
For 2001, Pennsylvania pro
ducers of aquaculture products
reported sales totaling $B.B mil
lion, 5 percent above the previous
year. Only those with over $l,OOO
in gross receipts were included in
the summary.
Sales of food fish comprised 80
percent of the total sales with the
remainder of the sales made up
of sport and game fish, baitfish,
crustaceans, mollusks, ornamen
tal fish, and other animal aqua
culture (tadpoles and frogs).
There were $5 million from
trout sales, 3 percent over 2000.
Trout makes up 57 percent of
total aquaculture sales in Penn
sylvania. For 2001, this ranks
Pennsylvania as the fourth larg
est state for trout sales behind
Idaho with $34.8 million. North
Carolina with $6.5 million, and
California with $6 million.
The fifth largest trout producer
is Washington with $3.5 million.
Pennsylvania is the leading state
for trout distributed for restora
Northeast Order Uniform
For June Announ
BOSTON, Mass. Erik F.
Rasmussen, market administra
tor for the Northeast Marketing
Area, has announced that the sta
tistical uniform price paid by
milk dealers (handlers) regulated
under the Northeast Order for
June 2002 is $12.38 per hundred
weight ($1.06 per gallon) for milk
delivered to plants located in Suf
folk County, Mass. (Boston). The
June statistical uniform price is
$12.28 for delivery to plants in
New York, N.Y., and $12.18 for
delivery to plants in Philadelphia.
The statistical uniform price is
the benchmark minimum pro
ducer blend price paid to dairy
farmers, prior to allowable de
ductions, for milk containing 3.5
percent butterfat, 2.99 percent
protein, and 5.69 percent other
solids. The price received by an
individual dairy farmer will vary
as the component composition of
a farm’s milk differs from the es
tablished benchmarks and by the
location of the plant(s) to which
the farm’s milk is delivered.
Rasmussen also stated that the
producer price differential (PPD)
for June is $2.29 per hundred
weight for milk delivered to
tion, conservation, and recrea
tional purposes. These are fish
raised primarily by state and fed
eral hatcheries. Nationwide these
distributed fish were valued at
$64.8 million in 2001.
The top states are valued as
follows: Pennsylvania with $lO.B
million, Colorado with $7.6 mil
lion, California with $7.3 million,
Oregon with $6.5 million, and
Washington with $5.3 million.
Crop Forecasts
Last month I discussed NASS
yield forecast statistics. Here are
the latest results for the 2002
crop in Pennsylvania.
As of July 1, oat yield is ex
pected to be 64 bushels, winter
wheat 59 bushels, and barley 76
bushels per acre. After combining
these yield forecasts with acreage
statistics from the June Acreage
Survey, production is expected to
be larger than last year for each
of these three crops.
The peach crop is expected to
be 20 percent smaller than last
year’s production, based on July
plants located in Suffolk County,
Mass. The PPD represents each
producer’s share of the value
generated by the marketwide
pool on a hundredweight basis.
The PPD, which is added to the
payment producers receive for
their milk’s components, is ad
justed for the location of the re
ceiving plant. The statistical un
iform price and PPD decrease by
scheduled amounts the more dis
tant the plant receiving producer
milk is from Suffolk County.
The Class prices for milk pool
ed in June are as follows: Class I,
$14.28 (Suffolk County); Class 11,
$11.19; Class 111, $10.09; and
Class IV, $10.52. Comparable
prices for June 2001 were: Class I
$18.24, Class II $16.05, Class 111
$15.02, and Class IV price
$15.33. The component values for
June 2002 are protein, $2.0148
per pound; butterfat, $1.1211 per
pound; other solids, $0.0247 per
pound; and nonfat solids, $0.7605
per pound.
Milk receipts from producers
totaled 2.135 billion pounds.
Class I utilization, milk processed
as beverage milk, was 38.1 per-
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Lancaster Farming, Saturday, July 20, 2002-A29
forecasts. Tart cherry production
in Pennsylvania is forecast to be 5
percent above last year. However,
the national crop is only 59.1 mil
lion pounds compared to 369.3
million last year. Michigan, the
largest producing state, only pro
duced 5 percent of last year’s
crop because of unusual spring
weather that devastated the 2002
crop. The Michigan crop was
only IS million pounds compared
to 297 million in 2001 and 200
million pounds in 2000.
Sweet cherry production in
Pennsylvania is expected to be 34
percent below the 2000 crop.
All yield forecasts assume nor
mal growing conditions for the
remainder of the season.
Sweet com for fresh market is
showing a 3 percent decline in
harvested acres compared to last
year. Sweet com processors have
contracted 1,500 acres in 2002,
compared to only 650 acres last
year. Snap bean processors have
contracted 3,600 acres, only 44
percent of last year’s 8,200 acres.
Milk Price
ced
cent of producer milk receipts.
The average Class I utilization
was 40.7 percent in June 2001.
The manufacture of Class II
products such as cream, ice
cream, yogurt, and cottage cheese
utilized 17.3 percent of producer
milk. Milk used to manufacture
Class 111 products such as cheese
(American and Italian) and evap
orated and condensed products
utilized 32.3 percent of total milk
receipts. Class IV usage (butter,
nonfat and whole milk powder)
equaled 12.3 percent of the total.
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