Trenton, NJ – The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) will continue to collect the 2024 Census of Horticultural Specialties through April 18, 2025. Conducted just once every five years, the Census of Horticultural Specialties is the only source of detailed production and sales data for U.S. floriculture, nursery, and specialty crop industries, including greenhouse food crops.
Growers are encouraged to complete their survey either online at agcounts.usda.gov or by mail as soon as possible. The online questionnaire is user-friendly, accessible on most electronic devices, and saves producers time by calculating totals and automatically skipping questions that do not apply to their operations.
NASS enumerators will also continue gathering data and ask respondents to complete and return their survey form as soon as possible. If those who have received the form are no longer involved in horticultural operations, or need assistance completing the questionnaire, they can call toll-free, 888-424-7828 so their record can be updated.
Producers who receive the 2024 Census of Horticultural Specialties are required to respond by federal law (Title 7 USC 2204(g) Public Law 105-113), as it is part of the Census of Agriculture program. That same law also requires NASS to keep all individual information confidential.
“This is a great opportunity to show the importance of New Jersey food grown under cover,” stated Bruce Eklund, USDA/NASS NJ State Statistician. “Our end-of-the-year vegetable survey, for example, only shows crops grown in the open.” Growers should have received the survey via mail and or a specific survey code to complete the survey online. If you can’t locate the survey or your code, please contact Bruce at 503.308.0404 or by email at bruce.eklund@usda.gov.
The 2024 Census of Horticultural Specialties data is scheduled to be available on December 16, 2025, at nass.usda.gov/AgCensus and in the Quick Stats database at quickstats.nass.usda.gov. For more about the 2024 Census of Horticultural Specialties, please visit nass.usda.gov/go/hort.
NASS is the federal statistical agency responsible for producing official data about U.S. agriculture and is committed to providing timely, accurate and useful statistics in service to U.S. agriculture. USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.
The Rutgers Master Gardener Program offers an intensive horticulture training to people interested in improving their gardening skills and giving back by helping to teach others. RMG ‘volunteers’ attend a series of classes in basic to intermediate horticulture, soils, fertility, pest and plant diagnosis, and management skills. In turn, they help their local County Rutgers Cooperative Extension office extend their outreach to the community by answering gardening questions on call-in/walk-in helplines or at community events; teach classes; and develop and implement demonstration gardens.
