WASHINGTON –The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) released the first report under its new Current Agricultural Industrial Reports (CAIR) program today. Called Grain Crushings and Co-Products Production, the publication provides data about agricultural commodities consumed for alcohol and other uses as well as the production of co-products and products in the United States from October-December 2014. The report will be published monthly with the second report, to include January and final December data, scheduled to be released March 2, 2015.
Key highlights from the Grain Crushings and Co-Products Production report include:
- Total corn consumed for alcohol and other uses was 510.1 million bushels in December 2014. Total corn consumption was up five percent from November 2014 and up seven percent from October 2014.
- Sorghum consumption for fuel alcohol was 889 thousand hundredweight during December 2014. Total sorghum consumption was down 57 percent from November 2014 and down 53 percent from October 2014.
- Dry mill co-product production of distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) was at 1.9 million tons during December 2014, up eight percent from November 2014 and up three percent from October 2014.
- Wet mill corn gluten feed production was at 329.4 thousand tons during December 2014, up 12 percent from November 2014 and up three percent from October 2014.
In addition to Grain Crushings and Co-Products Production, other publications scheduled to be released within the CAIR program include:
- Flour Milling (quarterly beginning May 1, 2015.)
- Cotton System (monthly beginning May 1, 2015.)
- Fats & Oils: Production, Consumption and Stocks (monthly beginning August 3, 2015.)
- Oilseed Crushings (monthly beginning August 3, 2015.)
“Data from the CAIR program are crucial to U.S. economic policy, help industries analyze markets, plan, forecast, and make well-informed business decisions,” said NASS Administrator Joseph T. Reilly.
Certain publications, which included data about agricultural manufacturing, were previously part of the U.S. Census Bureau’s Current Industrial Reports (CIR) program which began in 1904. Due to budget reprioritizations, the bureau discontinued its collection of data for the CIR program in 2011. Given its long and well-respected history of gathering and publishing agricultural data, Congress authorized and appropriated funds for NASS to design and implement the Current Agricultural Industrial Report program.
“Although the industry’s participation in the CAIR program is required by law, we truly appreciate the time and effort all of our respondents expend when they fill out the questionnaires.” said Reilly. “We at NASS are committed to the success of the CAIR program because the data are vital to all who use our reports including private industry, academic researchers, government agencies, and many others.”
NASS safeguards the privacy of all respondents, ensuring that no individual respondent or operation can be identified. Participation in the CAIR program is both required by law and protected by law (Title 7, U.S. Code). NASS collects information directly from industry representatives who participate on a confidential basis. Confidentiality rules require reporting data only in aggregate form. NASS cannot report data where a single producer dominates a production category and could be identified.
Grain Crushings and Co-Products Production and all other NASS reports are available online at www.nass.usda.gov.
