Has anyone else received this form in the mail? They're asking all kinds of nosey questions, like whether or not we grew a garden, raised any chickens or other livestock, etc. I remember getting a questionaire like this in the past, but if we didn't make any profit from our "farm" stuff, we weren't required to answer. Now we are!! Makes me nervous because it reminds me of that article I read where...in the event of a disaster...the govt. could come in and confiscate any extra food you had for others who don't have. Hmmm...maybe this is the office of Homeland "Security" that sent this questionaire!!?? According to what the letter says...my response is required by law!! If I say we didn't grow or raise anything, will they sent someone to check up on us? Should I ignore this? Any suggestions??

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2002

Answers

Marcia, this is just a guess on my part . . .

I remember during the last census survey, there was a version of it (about 5% of the total number of forms) which asked for more information than the standard census form. The one we received at home was only about 10 questions. One of my coworkers received one that was five or six pages! With questions which were over the top; no way was he going to answer the form in its entirety.

Like your form, his census form has the required response by law. So he just claimed that his census form was lost, and received another one, this time the standard one. No problem.

I hope you find your answer here.

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2002

Marcia, what agency or department is it from?

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2002

EM...it's from the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture. There are only eight questions, but if I'm not in it for profit what business is it of theirs??

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2002

The USDA has been in panic-mode for some time now regarding mad cow disease and scrapie. In their minds it would probably be quite helpful to know exactly what sort of livestock was located where. Whether or not you want to provide them with that info is your decision I guess. There's probably some totally benign reason why this survey was invented, but once the info gets into a database who knows what it could be used for.

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2002

Marcia, like Sherri said, you of course have to decide for yourself what feels right to you. As for me, I would "lose" it. I will not cooperate in their continued control machinations.

The animal thing is bad enough, but the fact that they are attempting to control what we grow in our own gardens is OUTRAGEOUS!!!!

Garden plants regulated by USDA

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2002

Sherri...that's what make me nervous! All we want to do is fade into the background...not be in anyone's database :-)!! We're already heavily involved in govt. stuff with having our own automotive business. I'm thinking that maybe they got my name from my ADGA membership which I'm planning on dropping this year anyways.

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2002

I'm thinking that the idea of "losing" it is a good one, EM. After all...we have rural delivery here and ANYTHING can get lost in the mail!!! I have til Aug. 16th to return it. I don't appreciate the intimidating statement on the letter that says "Your response is mandatory under Title 7, United States Code".

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2002

Along the same lines, we are still getting letters from the USDA insisting that we fill out these forms answering questions with our details about the governnment subsidy program for our farm! We have NEVER been involved in ANY subsidy program, period! And we told them numerous times during the seven years we were on that farm, and now, almost a year after having moved from the farm, and five months after having sold it, they are still sending these! The previous owners must have been involved in it, and once your farm is in, I guess they will not believe you aren't interested.

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2002

Marcia, don't simply "just lose it", take a red magic marker and write in big block letters, "none of your damn business" across the front of the form, then return it!!!

That's what I do with census forms ( I do answer how many people are living at this address, we do need to count how many of us there are ;-) ), official ag requests, government crop program news bulletins, and other related crap the governmnet busy bodies want to know about our farm.

If Big Brother wants to confirm that the place is indeed a "farm", he can bloodly well drive by and visually identify our 30 year old tractor and hay equipment setting in the machine sheds and confirm that there is a heck of alot of acres in fenced pasture to qualify as being a properly tax exempt ag enterprise.

Give 'em heck, Marcia, it is "None of their Damn Business"!!! And remember, their threats of getting in trouble are groundless, no one has even been fined or imprisoned for NOT answering a government survey form, I got into a giant pissing match with the Federal Census people on THAT one, and I won that round of the argument.

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2002

LOL, Annie, you go girl!!

I don't always follow my similar inclinations, but I'm quite certain I will become much less 'careful' after both my kids are on their own (if I'm still livin in the US)

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2002

Really, Annie? No one has ever even been fined? Well, that's good to know!! Maybe they're all just acting like a bunch of "blowfishes" trying to scare us into submission like this! I'm gonna ignore it. If I get another notice I WILL tell them that what we do here is none of their business. Then I'll have to run out and relocate our pot plants before they send out an inspector :-)!!

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2002

Hey,

I got that same (?) questionnaire last year. First I got a phone call. Then a rather nice woman called back to ask the questions indicated on the questionnaire. Later a pretty nice guy (who was used to people not wanting to participate, btw, but was still nice) came out one day and talked to me about the details. He gave me the publication they create with the stats in it. Rather interesting (i.e.: sheep raising is a dying industry). At first I was rather skittish about participating in a survey, but I did it anyway (I figured that whatever I had, they already knew about it one way or the other...aerial photos, neighbors, internet...?). I did tell them that it was a hobby farm, and that my stock was pretty old; no new lambs, etc. The truth, anyway.

You can call the dept and get a copy of the report. It has a lot of stuff about grains, too. Oh, and poultry/eggs. It's like the agriculture census. I think our was for WA state, but maybe the numbers roll up to the national level. If there's any homeland stuff going on, it could be seeing if we as a nation could even feed ourselves...

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2002

Oh yeah, and come to think of it, the guy said that sheep folks were trying to get as many numbers together as possible (I think to lobby for the ram price subsidy and/or tariffs) and the sheep folk were referring other sheep raisers. If they bothered to count my 19 sheep, they must have been desperate! My 11-year-old ewe and the 9- year-old gummer ewe must be glad to be "published"...

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2002

One more thing: The questionnaire was way before homeland stuff, so it maybe was two years ago. I got the publication last fall.

I can't imagine that the homeland office has a clue what they are doing yet...congress hasn't quite figured out what to do with Bush's proposal. They are still working on it.

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2002