USDA to conduct 2020 Local Food Marketing Practices Survey

After initial research in 2015, the U.S. Department of Agriculture will begin the agency’s second-ever Local Food Marketing Practices Survey in December.

The Census of Agriculture special study will look at local and regional food systems and provide new data on how locally grown foods in the U.S. are marketed and sold, according to a news release. The USDA said results will be available in November 2021. 

“We are excited to provide the first official federal data on marketing practices for local food since 2015 and therefore a five-year comparison point to inform policies and business in this area,” Hubert Hamer, administrator of the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, said in the release.

The 2020 Local Food Marketing Practices Survey is part of the Census of Agriculture Program and as such is required and protected by law, according to the release. Federal laws require producers to respond and USDA to keep identities and answers confidential. Farmers and ranchers who receive the survey may complete it securely and conveniently online at www.agcounts.usda.gov, or by mail. The deadline for response is Feb. 16, according to the release.

The USDA said the survey will ask producers about their production and local marketing of foods during the 2020 calendar year, including the value of food sales by marketing channel.

Other questions, according to the release, seek information on the value of crop and livestock sales, marketing practices, expenses, federal farm program participation, and more.

More information about the 2020 Local Food Marketing Practices Survey can be found online www.nass.usda.gov/go/local-food.