US - Census of Agriculture

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!