USDA crop reports delayed by government shutdown
DES MOIENS — Iowa farmers will not be seeing some USDA crop reports that would normally be released at this time of year.
USDA Chief Economist Rob Johansson says the reports that were to set to be released on January 11th will be delayed because of the the partial government shutdown. “They do take some time to put together and complete the analysis and compile those reports, so we need to have our staff in the office in order to do that,” Johansson said.
The delayed documents include the monthly World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE), crop production reports, grain stocks, and rice stocks. According to Johansson, it will take about a week to release the reports once funding resumes. “The analysts and NASS and the World Board folks will get together as quickly as possible once we can get back in the office and make sure that we try to get those reports out as quickly as possible,” Johansson said.
This hold-up is different than the delay in 2013 where USDA report data was missing. Johansson told Brownfield Ag News that is not the case this time, and the reports will be released as soon as possible.