Joe Parsons

From past surveys of farmers, we know what conservation practices growers are using and the effects of those practices on the environment, "but the next logical step is to understand why producers are adopting or not adopting conservation practices..."....

USDA collects some basic agroforestry data in its Census of Agriculture, but the agency announced a new National Agroforestry Survey. The goal is to gather information on five forestry practices. For the first time ever, farmers, ranchers, and ag producers of all kinds will have the opportunity to share the dynamic ways they manage valuable agroforestry resources in detail ...

The USDA's Agricultural Resource Management Survey looks to create a "balance sheet and income statement for all of American farming". "And then also we're taking this deeper dive in to swine operations, so they're will be quite a number of swine operators who are part of the survey," said NASS chair Joe Parsons ...

Even with all that's going, or not going on, due to COVID-19, NASS said if they've got the data, and enough of it, they intend to publish their reports such as the March 31st Perspective Plantings Report and publish them on time.  But the data is not the only thing of the mind of NASS leadership. ...

While, we’re still getting reports from the data compiled in the 2017 Census of Agriculture.  But the USDA is already starting to prepare for the next Census, scheduled for three years down the road.   “Right now, we are soliciting input for 2022 about how we can make the process better, how we can improve the questions that we ask,” said Joe Parsons is with NASS.   Parsons said the C...

While, we’re still getting reports from the data compiled in the 2017 Census of Agriculture.  But the USDA is already starting to prepare for the next Census, scheduled for three years down the road.   “Right now, we are soliciting input for 2022 about how we can make the process better, how we can improve the questions that we ask,” said Joe Parsons is with NASS.   Parsons said the Censu... Read

NASS staff continues to work on series and sub-reports focused on specific topics from the 2017 Census of Agriculture.  Those reports are expected to be released over the next year or so.  For example, coming up later this month, July 25th, a report on watersheds.  NASS’ J...

Just how huge is the 2017 U-S Census of Agriculture?   "We'll be releasing over 6.4 million unique pieces of data," said Joe Parsons, Chair of the National Ag Statistics Board.   He added the data needs to be broken down in order to be useful.   ...

The 2017 U.S. Census of Agriculture numbers were released Thursday.  Those figures shows the number of farms in the nation dropped 3% from the last census in 2012 to just over two million.   "The number of farms at the U-S level decreased about 67,000 farms. Many of ...

The lengthy government shut down is over but it is causing delays in the release of statistics from the census of agriculture which is held once every five years.  Joe Parsons, Ag Statistics board chairman said they were scheduled to release the Census number on February 21st, but they will delay that release.  ...