The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service is set to begin data collection efforts for the quarterly Hogs and Pigs Survey. The survey will collect market hog and breeding stock inventories, farrowing intentions, and information on the latest pig crop.
Producers should receive the survey questionnaire in late August and can respond via the internet, by mail or by fax. Producers who don’t respond in one of those ways will have the opportunity to complete the survey via telephone or personal interview.
“Through the quarterly surveys, NASS measures and reports conditions and trends in the U.S. pork industry over the course of the year,” said NASS Livestock Branch Chief Travis Averill. “The quarterly hog surveys enable NASS to provide pork producers, analysts, agribusinesses, and others, the data they need to make sound and timely business decisions.”
To obtain an accurate measurement, NASS will survey about 4,500 operators across the country.
Averill noted that, as is the case with all NASS surveys, information provided by respondents is confidential by law.
“NASS safeguards the privacy of all responses and publishes the data in aggregate form, ensuring that no individual producer or operation can be identified,” he said.
NASS will publish survey results in the quarterly Hogs and Pigs report on Sept. 25. These and all NASS reports are available online at nass.usda.gov. For more information, call 888-424-7828.
