Nursery and Floriculture Chemical Use News Release

NEWS RELEASE

United States Department of Agriculture

NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS SERVICE

[STATE NAME] FIELD OFFICE

[ADDRESS]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	Contact: [Firstname] [Lastname]
[Month ##], 20XX	(XXX) XXX-XXXX

USDA SURVEYS NURSERY AND FLORICULTURE CHEMICAL USE

[CITY, STATE] – For the first time since 2010, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is gearing up to collect detailed data on chemical use and pest management practices in the nursery and floriculture industries. Starting in [MONTH], representatives from USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) will be surveying growers in six of the nation’s largest nursery and floriculture producing states, including [STATE].

“The Nursery and Floriculture Chemical Use Survey is the only comprehensive measure of chemical usage in this specialty area of agriculture,” said [FIRSTNAME LASTNAME], director of the NASS [STATE] Field Office. “Because the survey is only conducted every three years, there is a great need for accurate, up-to-date information.”

[LASTNAME] explained that the survey results will be used by a host of individuals and organizations – including growers, distributors, chemical manufacturers, buyers, policymakers, regulators and others – to make sound business decisions and plan for the future.

“By participating in the survey, producers will provide valuable data needed to help ensure that products they use to maintain healthy and flourishing crops continue to be available for use,” [LASTNAME] said.

NASS representatives will contact selected producers between [DATE] and [DATE] to arrange in-person interviews for conducting the survey. Respondents will be asked to provide information on the type, location and total area of plants treated with chemical applications; the product name, rate, frequency and method of application; and the pest management practices use in their operation.

As with all NASS surveys, information provided by respondents is confidential by law. “NASS safeguards the privacy of all responses, ensuring that no individual operation or producer can be identified,” [LASTNAME] said.

Survey results will be published in NASS’s Nursery and Floriculture Chemical Use Summary to be released in early 20XX. This and all NASS reports are available on the agency’s web site: www.nass.usda.gov. For more information on NASS surveys and reports, call the NASS [STATE] Field Office at (800) xxx-xxxx.

###