The response rate among farmers to key government crop surveys has gradually fallen in recent years, a U.S. Department of Agriculture official said Wednesday.

Farmer response rates in recent rounds of the agency's quarterly agricultural surveys have been around 75% to 80%, down about five percentage points from a decade ago, said Joe Prusacki, director of the statistics division at the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service.

The survey is used by the federal government to determine how many acres farmers will plant with key crops such as corn and soybeans. The USDA also surveys farmers quarterly to determine how much grain is in storage.

Possible reasons for the decline in participation include growing anti-government sentiment among farmers and difficulty getting them to answer their phones if they have caller ID and don't recognize the number, Prusacki said. The USDA also collects data for the survey online and through other means.

"Producers hate government, they're hating government more," Prusacki said at a forum sponsored by private weather forecaster MDA EarthSat.

The USDA surveys more than just farmers for its grain storage reports. Response rates are generally higher--around 90%--for non-farm sites such as mills and elevators that store grains or oilseeds, Prusacki said.

"The off-farm side is solid," he said.

The falling farmer response rate has "not really" affected the accuracy of the USDA reports, Prusacki said, adding that the agency tracks trends in its data.

-By Owen Fletcher, Dow Jones Newswires; 312-750-4120; owen.fletcher@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 28, 2012 18:20 ET (22:20 GMT)