USDA’s Cost of Pollination Survey Mails to Illinois Crop Producers this Fall

On Oct. 28, USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) will mail the Cost of Pollination Inquiry to 239 Illinois crop producers. The survey will be sent to nearly 16,000 producers nationwide. Survey results will help producers and beekeepers monitor and react to changes in production costs. Pollination expenditures are a necessary part of agriculture and are directly tied to the health of the honeybee industry.

“To help accurately depict the health of the pollination industry in the United States, NASS will ask crop producers about their use of honeybees, the fees they paid for honeybee pollination, and any other expenses related to pollinating their crops,” said Mark Schleusener, NASS Illinois State Statistician. 

Survey recipients are asked to respond securely online at agcounts.usda.gov, by mail, or fax. Those who do not respond by Nov. 12 may be contacted by a NASS representative to arrange an interview to complete the survey. 

All information reported by producers will be used for statistical purposes only and kept confidential, as required by federal law. NASS will publish the survey data Dec. 13, 2024, in the Cost of Pollination report, at nass.usda.gov. 

For more information about the Cost of Pollination Survey and NASS’s bee and honey program, visit nass.usda.gov/go/bees/. NASS’s other honeybee reports include the Honey report, published every March, and the Honey Bee Colonies report, published every August. For assistance with the survey, or for more information, contact the NASS Heartland Regional Field Office at (800) 551-1014 or nassrfohlr@usda.gov.