Eastern Wildlife Damage Control Conferences
Date of this Version
February 1991
Document Type
Article
Abstract
The U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and National Agricultural Statistics Service (MASS) conducted a nationwide survey of agricultural producers to determine what proportion of producers were sustaining losses caused by wildlife and which wildlife species were believed to be responsible for the damage. The survey was conducted in August 1989 for the USDA, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Animal Damage Control (ADC). Results are based on useable responses received from 5,085 farmers in the eastern United States. The results presented here may differ from a previous press release by NASS because losses and animals causing losses were determined specifically for all producers of each commodity rather than all losses to producers as classified by primary farm types. The estimates of losses and the wildlife species causing the damage were identified by producers in 4 major commodity groups. The major commodity groups were livestock and/or poultry; field crops; vegetables, fruits and/or nuts; and other commodities. When producers were asked to categorize themselves as primarily producers of only 1 commodity group, 55% called themselves livestock/poultry producers, 40% field crop producers, 4% vegetable/fruit/nut producers, and 1% considered themselves producers of other agricultural commodities. Because the "other" category is so small, that group will not be discussed here.