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NATIONAL AG STATISTICAL SURVEY PLANNED

SACRAMENTO - About 4,000 California farmers and ranchers will be part of a national sample of 100,000 producers who will be contacted for the US Agriculture Department's mid-year survey later this month.

The survey will be conducted by the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service and the information gathered will be used to make state, regional, and national estimates of crop acreage, grain stocks, livestock inventory, number of farms, land in farms, and other statistics.

In addition to general releases to the public and press, the survey findings will go to government policy makers and farm organizations, which use the survey results to help develop farm policy positions.

Other users include state governments, universities, extension agents, farm management consultants, agricultural lenders, and businesses that supply input to farmers.

The June Agricultural Survey is one of the most important of the many surveys conducted each year by the California Agricultural Statistics Service. Other agricultural surveys are scheduled for September, December, and March.
 
Objective yield surveys for cotton are conducted near the end of each month throughout the growing season. Separate cattle and sheep inventory surveys are conducted in July and January.

The 100,000 farmers expected to participate in the survey were selected at random from 2.1 million farms nationwide. Facts about an individual's farm or ranch are strictly confidential and used only in combination with reports from other farmers to produce agricultural statistics for California and the entire country.
 
After results of the survey are compiled and analyzed in Washington, DC, the information will be released in a series of reports.
 
Those who participate in the survey will receive a special summary of the results for their state and the nation.

CHIQUITA DUMPS COLOMBIAN OPERATIONS
 
BOGOTA, Colombia  - Chiquita Bananas has sold its Colombian banana-producing and port operations for $28.5 million in cash, $15 million in notes and deferred payments, and the assumption of $8 million in pension liabilities, according to the Motley Fool.

The transaction, which includes agreements to buy bananas and pineapples, is expected to result in a loss of $5 million.

Shareholders will nonetheless relish the loss of the operations inside war-torn Colombia.

In April 2003, the company disclosed that it made payments for the "protection of employees" to groups designated as foreign terrorist organizations. Although the sale will not stop a US Department of Justice investigation into the payments, it does allow investors to look at the company with a fresh view.

The sale also delivers on the company's promise to reduce debt.

When California-headquartered Wells Fargo led the company out of bankruptcy brought on by a US- European Union banana import war, Chiquita targeted a debt level of under $400 million by 2005. It met that goal two years early.

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