The document summarizes the U.S. Census of Agriculture conducted every 5 years by the National Agricultural Statistics Service. It discusses the census's mission to provide accurate agricultural statistics, legal authority, history dating back to 1840, definition of a farm, uses of collected data, 5-year planning cycle, content determination process, data collection and release of state and local level statistics in reports published between 2019-2020.

1. U.S. Census of Agriculture
Victoria Calderon
David Luckenbach
National Agricultural Statistics Service
United States Department of Agriculture
Regional workshop on sampling
for agricultural censuses and surveys
Montevideo, Uruguay
12-16 December 2016

2. U.S. Census of Agriculture
National Agricultural Statistics Service:
Mission
to provide
timely, accurate and useful statistics
in service to U.S. agriculture

3. U.S. Census of Agriculture
National Agricultural Statistics Service:
on-going sample survey program
weekly, monthly, quarterly & annual reports
basic statistics on
crops, livestock, chemical use,
farm demographics, income & expenses
over 400 reports each year
120 crop items
45 livestock items

4. U.S. Census of Agriculture
National Agricultural Statistics Service:
Agricultural Census

5. U.S. Census of Agriculture
Purpose:
to provide
uniform, comprehensive statistics
on farms & farm productivity
for every county in the U.S.
every 5 years

6. U.S. Census of Agriculture
Legal Authority:
conducted under legal authority
granted by United States Code
Title 7, Chapter 55, Section 2204g
type, frequency & geographic scope
confidentiality of data
mandatory reporting

7. U.S. Census of Agriculture
History:
1840 - 1950 conducted with decennial population census
1925 started mid-decade census
1954 - 1974 conducted in years ending in “4” & “9”
1978 adjusted to new schedule for economic censuses
first used area frame to measure incompleteness
1982 - present conducted in years ending in “2” & “7”
1997 responsibility transferred from
U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census to
U.S. Department of Agriculture,
National Agricultural Statistics Service

8. U.S. Census of Agriculture
Farm definition:
any place that produced and sold,
or normally would have produced and sold,
$1,000 or more of agricultural products
during the census year
~ currently about 2.2 million farms ~

9. U.S. Census of Agriculture
Uses:
analyze structure, productivity & trends
of U.S. agriculture
farmers
farm organizations
agribusinesses & other private sector businesses
agriculture-oriented news media
administrative & legislative bodies
Federal, state & local government agencies
develop list sampling frame
for agricultural surveys

10. U.S. Census of Agriculture
5-Year Cens us of Agri cul t ure Cycl e

11. U.S. Census of Agriculture
Year 1 - Di rect i on
 Monitor products from previous Census of
Agriculture (CoA)
 Continue follow-ons from previous Census
 List building - National Agricultural Classification
Survey (240,000 forms mailed)
 Begin working on processing and analysis systems
 Determine Content

12. U.S. Census of Agriculture
Cont ent Det ermi nat i on
• Consider new content from:
– Data Users
– Public Comment
– USDA
– Advisory Committees
– NASS Staff
• Consider removing content

13. U.S. Census of Agriculture
Content Determination – Guiding Principles
• Include items that:
– Are mandated/supported by Congress
– Are requested by Federal agencies where
legislation called for data to be provided to
Congress
– Assist in the evaluation of existing Federal
programs
– If omitted, would result in additional
respondent burden and cost for a new survey
for other agencies or users

14. U.S. Census of Agriculture
Cont ent Det ermi nat i on – Gui di ng
Pri nci pl es , cont .
• Include items that:
– Are required for classification of farms by
historical groupings
– Are needed for improving coverage in the
Census
– Provide data on current issues
– Improve data quality and accuracy

15. U.S. Census of Agriculture
Year 2 - Pl anni ng
 Census of Agriculture Content Test
 Test new content and systems
 Focus on improving online respondent experience
 List building - National Agricultural Classification
Survey (340,000 forms mailed)
 Begin working on publication specifications

16. U.S. Census of Agriculture
Year 3 - Ref erence
 List building - National Agricultural Classification
Survey (1 million forms mailed)
 Supplemental samples from June Agricultural Survey
 Used to improve census coverage & determine
misclassification
 Print all correspondence materials

17. U.S. Census of Agriculture
Year 4 - Product i on
 Data Collection and Processing
 Editing and Imputation
 Data Analysis
 Summarization, Weighting, and Disclosure
 Products and Release Planning
 Prepare for CoA Follow-ons

18. U.S. Census of Agriculture
Year 5 - Rel eas e
 Release CoA results
 Conduct first of the CoA Follow-ons
 Evaluate the 2017 CoA and solicit input for the
2022 CoA from the public

19. U.S. Census of Agriculture
2017 CoA - Product s
• February 2019
– U.S. and State, Volume 1
• PDF, Online Database, Web Query Tool
– State and County Profiles
– Rankings
– Web Maps
– Outlying Areas
– Highlights, Infographics, and Fact Sheets
• March – May 2019
– Congressional District Profiles and Rankings
– Zip Code Tabulations
Dates and products subject to change

20. U.S. Census of Agriculture
2017 CoA – Product s , cont .
• June – August 2019
– Watersheds
– American Indian Reservations
• September – October 2019
– Race, Ethnicity, and Gender Profiles
– Typology
– Years on Present Farm of Principal Operator
• November – December 2019
– Specialty Crops
– History
Dates and products subject to change

21. U.S. Census of Agriculture
GRACIAS!
THANKYOU!
OBRIGADO!