Issued April 18, 2008 by the Agricultural Statistics Board of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service. For information contact Shiela Corley at (202) 720-5944.

The USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) announced today that the Cotton Objective Yield Survey will no longer be conducted in California. A grower reported yield survey will continue to be conducted and will provide data used to establish monthly California cotton yield and production forecasts. Upland cotton acreage in California has declined significantly in recent years, from 1.17 million acres in 1995 to 195,000 acres in 2007. California now accounts for less than 2 percent of the U.S. upland cotton planted area.

Objective Yield Survey data will continue to be collected in Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Texas for upland cotton. These states accounted for 78 percent of the Nation’s 2005 – 2007 upland cotton production. The Cotton Objective Yield Survey data are combined with grower reported yields and used by the USDA's Agricultural Statistics Board to prepare upland cotton yield and production forecasts for release in the August through December Crop Production reports.