ATHENS, Ga. — The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) will interview nearly 800 Florida, Georgia and South Carolina fruit growers to gather information for the 2021 Fruit Chemical Use Survey this fall.
The survey will collect information on bearing acreage, pest management practices, acres treated, application rates, and pesticides applied to more than 12 fruit crops. “Growers benefit from providing their information because the resulting data are used to re-register products; the data also illustrate the industry’s environmental practices and assure the quality of U.S. food to consumers here and around the world,” said Anthony Prillaman, Director of NASS’ Southern Regional Field Office “I encourage every grower to take the time to respond, if they receive this survey.”
Results from this survey will paint a detailed picture of pesticide use and other pest management practices used by the fruit growers across the nation. Starting in October, NASS representatives will call growers to set up an interview to assist in the completion of the questionnaire. To speed up the survey process, respondents are encouraged to have their spray records available for reference. If these services were contracted, growers should be prepared to give consent to access these records.
NASS safeguards the privacy of all respondents. The information provided will be used for statistical purposes only. In accordance with federal law, responses will be kept confidential and will not be disclosed in identifiable form.
Survey results will be published online in NASS’s Quick Stats database next year. This database and all NASS reports are available on nass.usda.gov. For more information on NASS surveys and reports, call the NASS Southern Regional Field Office at (800) 253-4419.
–USDA, NASS