By MATTHEW WEAVER

Capital Press

Next week, the National Agricultural Statistics Service will call small-grain farmers to update its survey of unharvested crops.

When NASS initially surveyed producers in September, a significant amount of spring wheat, barley, oats and durum wheat remained to be harvested in Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Montana, Maine and N. Dakota.

During the week of Oct. 17, NASS will ask producers to verify and update the acreage, yield, production and stock estimates.

Many crops were harvested late this year because of weather delays.

Lance Honig, crops branch chief for NASS, said this is the third straight year for a re-interview following the survey, which was conducted during the first two weeks in September.

During the initial survey, the service asked how much of the reported acreage remained to be harvested, plus the expected yield.

"For example, if a farmer had earlier reported 50 acres of spring wheat still left to be harvested, we will ask him, 'Were you able to harvest them or do you still intend to?'" Honig said, noting that the service will also ask for yield and production on those acres.

Only farmers who reported acres still to be harvested will be contacted. The unharvested acreage is a component of on-farm stocks. Honig said.

Anyone who reported any acres will be contacted, even if it was a relatively small number, Honig said. The service will contact about 1,500 producers.

"It's not a hugely expensive proposition because we're just calling these folks, which is a relatively low-cost method of data collection," Honig said. "The sample size is not terribly large."

Information from the survey is used by the industry to make marketing and production decisions.

Honig advised farmers be familiar with the acreage the survey will be asking about.

The statistics service may release an updated forecast for small grains in its Nov. 9 crop production report.

Online

www.nass.usda.gov