(U.S. Department of Agriculture) — The USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service or NASS, with the support of the Department of Commerce, Central Statistics Division, Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands, will begin visits to farms on Saipan, Rota and Tinian to conduct the 2023 Census of Agriculture data collection from all known farmers starting mid-March 2024. For this effort, a farm is defined as all places from which $1,000 or more of agricultural products were produced and sold, or normally would have been sold, in 2023.
The most widely used statistics in the agriculture industry, the Census of Agriculture, typically conducted every five years, provides the most comprehensive and impartial agriculture data at the island level. Federal and local governments, agribusinesses, organizations, and many more use ag census data to support funding research and programs to improve farming techniques and equipment, building infrastructure for high-speed internet, providing effective production and distribution systems as well as natural disaster preparation, response, and recovery assistance. One of the most important uses of ag census data is to justify claims of farmers who may suffer damages and losses due to natural disasters, such as typhoons.
“The Census of Agriculture is a powerful voice for the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands agriculture. The information gathered influences policy decisions that will have a tremendous impact on producers and their communities for years to come,” said NASS Administrator Hubert Hamer. “I strongly encourage all farmers to prepare their farm records. We need to hear from all of our farmers to provide the most accurate and helpful information about agriculture in the islands.”
The 2023 questionnaire includes an expanded list of commodities and new questions on agricultural practices to better capture changes and trends in the industry.
Responding in the ag census is required by federal law under Title 7 USC 2204(g) Public Law 105-113. The same law requires USDA to keep all information confidential, to use the data only for statistical purposes, and to publish the data in aggregate form to prevent disclosing the identity of any individual producer or farm operation.
USDA will release the U.S. territory ag census data on their website in the summer of 2025. For more information about the Census of Agriculture, visit nass.usda.gov/AgCensus/.
For more information, contact the Central Statistics Division at (670) 664-3023.
