United States Department of Agriculture

Issued September 25, 2015 by the Agricultural Statistics Board of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service. For more information contact Alex Minchenkov at (202) 690-8121 or Aleksey.minchenkov@nass.usda.gov.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service – Wildlife Services (APHIS-WS) have collaborated on the first-ever comprehensive study of feral swine effects on U.S. agriculture. Data collection phase of the study has concluded and are now moving to the analysis phase of the study. The initial results show that for respondents in the states surveyed who grew crops in 2014, 34 percent reported feral swine being present in at least one of their fields. Of those operators with feral swine present, 89 percent reported damages caused by feral swine.

During the data collection phase, NASS surveyed 10,800 farmers across 11 states (Alabama, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas). The survey asked crop producers if they had noticed signs of feral swine in and around their crops and livestock, and if there were any crop or livestock losses attributed to those feral swine.

During the analysis phase APHIS-WS researchers will statistically evaluate the data to determine what future steps are necessary to address feral swine problems and report on additional results when analysis is concluded. As is the case with all of its surveys, NASS and APHIS-WS employees with access to the study information will maintain confidentiality of individual responses and are bound by the Confidential Information Protections provisions of Title V, Subtitle A, Public Law 107-347.