June 14 -- The National Agricultural Statistics Service, USDA invites comments to OMB by July 21, 2023 regarding the 2023 Irrigation and Water Management Survey. [Comments due 30 days after submission to OMB on June 21.]
The 2023 Irrigation and Water Management Survey will mark 44 years of irrigation data collected on water management practices and water uses in American agriculture. Irrigation surveys have been conducted since 1974 as supplements to the quinquennial Censuses of Agriculture. This survey, supplementing basic irrigation data collected in the census, is conducted on a sample basis; the survey can provide comprehensive analyses of irrigation, production, and operator information with less respondent burden and cost than if this information were gathered as part of a census collection. The 2023 Irrigation and Water Management Survey will obtain data describing the irrigation activities of U.S. farm operations. Some of these activities are of current National interest, such as the chemigation, fertigation, and water-conserving uses and practices of irrigators. The 2023 Irrigation and Water Management Survey will play an important part in providing critically needed data to address these types of issues. The Irrigation Survey is an integral part of the 2022 Census of Agriculture and is conducted every five years under the authority of the Census of Agriculture Act of 1997 (Pub. L. 105–113) where participation is mandatory. This law requires the Secretary of Agriculture to conduct a census of agriculture in 2002 and every fifth year thereafter (prior to 1997 the census was conducted by the Department of Commerce).
The primary purpose of this survey is to provide detail data relating to on-farm irrigation activities for use in preparing a wide variety of water-related local programs, economic models, legislative initiatives, market analyses, and feasibility studies. The Irrigation and Water Management Survey data are the only data that are complete, consistent, and accurate enough to be used for bench-marking on-farm irrigation measures over time. The absence of the Irrigation and Water Management Survey data would certainly affect irrigation policy decisions. Federal programs, legislation, and impact studies would instead be subject to greater uncertainty and error.
Irrigation and Water Management Survey:
https://www.nass.usda.gov/Surveys/Guide_to_NASS_Surveys/Farm_and_Ranch_Irrigation/
NASS submission to OMB:
https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAViewICR?ref_nbr=202305-0535-003 Click IC List for information collection instrument, View Supporting Statement for technical documentation. Submit comments through this webpage.
FRN:
https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2023-12667
For AEA members wishing to submit comments, "A Primer on How to Respond to Calls for Comment on Federal Data Collections" is available at
https://www.aeaweb.org/content/file?id=5806
