The United States Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service (USDA-NASS), in collaborations with the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands Department of Commerce, Central Statistics Division (DOC-CSD) will begin visits in mid-March 2024 to all farms on Saipan, Rota, and Tinian to conduct the CNMI 2023 Census of Agriculture data collection.
Response to the Census of Agriculture is required by Federal Law, under Title 7 USC 2204(g) Public Law 105-113 and as well as the CNMI 1990 Statistical Act Public Law 7-35.
ANNOUNCEMENT
NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS SERVICE
United States Department of Agriculture • Washington, DC 20250
Ag Statistics Hotline: (800) 727-9540 • www.nass.usda.gov
USDA, local partners to conduct Census of Agriculture in
Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands – February 20, 2024 – The USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), with the support of the Department of Commerce, Central Statistics Division, Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), 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, please contact the Central Statistics Division at telephone number 670-664-3023.
###
NASS is the federal statistical agency responsible for producing official data about U.S. agriculture and is committed to providing timely, accurate, and useful statistics in service to U.S. agriculture.
USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.