SPRINGFIELD — Row crop producers of corn, soybeans, sorghum, alfalfa and other hay across the state of Illinois will soon be receiving a questionnaire designed to collect data that will be used in estimating county level yields for these crops from the 2012 harvests.

The National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) Illinois Field Office began mailing these questionnaires Oct. 17 to roughly 8,300 Illinois corn and soybean farmers. If the questionnaires are not received by November, one of NASS’ telephone enumerators will attempt to follow up.

“Information collected during this survey is used to set individual crop county estimates for all the major producing counties in Illinois” said Brad Schwab, director of the Illinois Field Office. “In order to publish the yield for any given county, it is necessary to have a minimum of 30 good reports so that’s why it’s so important that farmers complete this survey.”