Federal Shutdown Results in First Canceled Crop Report in 147 Years
The federal shutdown has led to postponements and cancellations of important USDA reports.
According to a recent USDA announcement, the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) and World Agricultural Outlook Board (WAOB) have canceled crop reports, while other key reports have been postponed due to a lack in federal funding stemming from the effects of the federal shutdown.
The NASS’s Crop Production and Cotton Ginnings reports, as well as the WAOB's World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) scheduled for October 11, have been canceled. The next scheduled release of these reports is November 8, 2013, a point in which many farmers have already harvested most of their corn and soybean fields. Aside from the crop reports and WASDE report, NASS’s weekly Crop Progress reports from October 7 and 15 will also not be produced.
From the USDA release, “While the lapse in federal funding has ended, NASS has not been able to engage in the necessary data collection and analysis over the past few weeks. NASS is assessing its data collection plans and evaluating the timing of upcoming reports.”
The USDA began producing reports in 1866, according to an Agriculture.com article. Throughout this span of 147 years, the USDA has never canceled a crop report, calling this “the first time ever.”
The last few weeks have caused the markets to drift according to Agriculture.com, but the volatility has begun to pick up in anticipation of the wave of data that will be produced in the coming weeks. The federal shutdown led to the first crop report cancellation and several other postponements of data, leaving crop producers and analysts in the dark.