Government Counting Sheep? Now, Only in Its Dreams

[groovedaddy]

Last year, Wisconsin led the nation in mink farming, producing 833,430 pelts. Texas was the undisputed king of pansies, growing 1.8 million flats of the flowers. And no state harvested more hops than Washington, with 24,336 acres.

This year? Who knows? The government has stopped counting.

Forced to cut its budget, the Agriculture Department has decided to eliminate dozens of reports, including the annual goat census (current population: three million), and the number of catfish on the nation’s fish farms (177 million, not counting the small fry).

Which raises an existential question: If the government stops counting catfish, do catfish farmers no longer count?

“We’ll just disappear,” said Jerry Nobile, who raises catfish in Moorhead, Miss.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/09/business/government-counting-sheep-now-only-in-dreams.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha25

[ProgressiveProfessor]

1. The numbers in play here are pocket change

This sounds more like a poison pill maneuver by Agriculture.

[jwirr]

2. These numbers are used more by the traders but it also protects the farmer

from all planting the same thing or too much of the same thing thus lowering the prices drastically putting some of the farmers out of business. This is especially true of the traditional farmers that produce a lot of our food. But some of the things they count are not anywhere near being important to the markets. Mink pelts? I do not wear real fur. Pansies? I can grow my own. Goats? We can go without knowing how many there are. Catfish? I would like to see more grown but do not care how many there are - fish are expensive. Hops? Yes, I like beer.

[beam me up scottie]

3. "Texas was the undisputed king of pansies"

Not to make light of your op, but :rofl:

[beam me up scottie]

4. Why don't individual states compile and compare their own data?

It's no surprise that the federal government doesn't care about small farms, but local and state politicians can't afford to ignore them.