Congresswoman Gonzalez Colon Invites Farmers to Participate in the Federal Agriculture Census

Statement

Congresswoman, Jenniffer González-Colón, announced that the Federal Department of Agriculture (USDA) will have available in January 2019 the agricultural census to distribute in Puerto Rico and for the first time, farmers in Puerto Rico will be able to send their answers electronically in Spanish.

"It is extremely important that all agricultural producers in Puerto Rico participate in the census; this is the most complete and reliable source of agricultural data in the nation and is the reference that will be used when making decisions about federal programs and funds; this data serves to determine the needs for aid in case of disaster. Our reality with the hurricane season of 2017 changed and we need the agencies to have the most accurate, complete and last-minute data to be able to boost agriculture in Puerto Rico, "said Gonzalez-Colon.

Electronic responses began to be available nationally in 2007 and are now available for the first time in Puerto Rico.
to the form in Spanish.

The census is administered by the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) every five years, in the years that end in 2 and 7; having been the last one to be executed in Puerto Rico in 2012.

The census was going to be distributed in Puerto Rico next to the census of the other states of the nation in December of 2017 where there are more than three million producers. However, due to the impact of Hurricanes Irma and María, it was postponed for this December but last October it was agreed to get it distributed in January 2019 along with the census of the other territories that were not carried out ten years ago.Therefore, it is urgent that Puerto Rico fill out the census in order to obtain federal resources.
As from the census, the formulas for assigning funds to Puerto Rico will be determined.

According to the NASS, coffee, bananas and milk are the largest productions made in Puerto Rico. Some numbers from the 2012 census, whose results were obtained in 2014, they established that 13,159 were registered in Puerto Rico farms; 584,988 acres of cultivated land; 213 hydroponic farms; $ 421 thousand in sales generated by the farms that sell organically produced products; coffee is the harvested product with the largest number of land with 33 thousand cords; 96 thousand cattle; the order of the municipalities with the largest number of farms were Adjuntas, Lares, Utuado, Orocovis and Barranquitas; and the municipality with the largest number of ropes cultivated was Lajas.

Source