The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) is underway with the Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEEP) survey. Conducted in tandem with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), which serves as the lead agency for the project, this joint effort is designed to gather real-world data on the conservation practices farmers utilize and measure their overall effectiveness.
Established in 2002 as a multi-year initiative, the CEEP survey is unique in its approach. This year marks the third installment of the series over its multi-year lifespan. It stands out as one of the few NASS surveys conducted entirely by in-field enumerators. To accomplish this, NASS contracts with the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) to use its enumerators for data collection.
The survey process is structured into distinct phases:
- June through August (Initial Screening): NASDA enumerators visit selected farms to determine their eligibility for the full project. This phase verifies land ownership and ensures that producers meet the specific criteria required to provide the necessary information. This tracking includes the key agricultural regions of Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas, where local enumerators verify operations meeting the criteria.
- November through March (Data Collection): Landowners confirmed as eligible are contacted again to dive into the core details of the survey, gathering the comprehensive data required for the project. For producers across the southern plains and winter wheat belt—including Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas—this timeline represents when the actual collection of conservation records and management practices will occur.
Once the data collection is finalized, NASS will hand the information over to the NRCS. The NRCS will then process the findings and publish the results on their website through detailed CEEP assessment reports.
Ultimately, the data collected through these surveys provide critical insights that the USDA can use to design future programs and support effective, science-based practices that are already working on farms across the country.
