actually under cultivation or used for pasture or grazing, pro- 

 vided it was part of the farm operator's total operation. Large 

 acreages of woodland or wasteland held for nonagricultural 

 purposes were deleted from individual reports during the pro- 

 cessing operations. 



Land in farms is an operating unit concept and includes 

 land owned and operated as well as land rented from others. 

 Land used rent free was to be reported as land rented from 

 others. All grazing land, except land used under government 

 permits on a per-head basis, was included as "land in farms" 

 provided it was part of a farm or ranch. Grazing land operated 

 by grazing associations was to be reported by the person 

 chiefly responsible for conducting the business of the associa- 

 tion. All land in Indian reservations used for growing crops or 

 grazing livestock was to be included as land in farms. Land in 

 reservations not reported by individual Indians or non-Indians 

 was to be reported in the name of the cooperative group that 

 used the land. In some instances, an entire Indian reservation 

 was reported as one farm. 



Land area— The approximate land area of counties and States 

 shown for 1982 represents the total land area as determined by 

 records and calculations updated as of January 1, 1983. The 

 county land areas were remeasured in 1980. The previous 

 county measurements were done in 1940. Any differences be- 

 tween the land area in 1982 and 1978 are due to these new 

 measurements, annexations, and other changes affecting county 

 boundaries. 



Land in two or more counties-With few exceptions, the land in 

 each farm was tabulated as being in the operator's principal 

 county. The principal county was defined as the one where 

 the largest value of agricultural products was raised or pro- 

 duced. It was usually the county containing all or the largest 

 proportion of the land in the farm or viewed by the respon- 

 dent as his/her principal county. For a limited number of 

 Midwest and Western States, this procedure has resulted in the 

 allocation of more land in farms to a county than the total 

 land area of the county. To minimize this distortion, separate 

 reports were required for large farms identified from the 1978 

 census as having more than one farm unit. Other reports re- 

 ceived showing land in more than one county were separated 

 into two or more reports if the data would significantly affect 

 the county totals. 



Value of land and buildings— Respondents were asked to report 

 their estimate of the current market value of land and buildings 

 owned, rented or leased from others, and rented or leased to 

 others. Market value refers to the respondent's estimate of what 

 the land and buildings would sell for under current market 

 conditions. If the value of land and buildings was not reported, 

 it was estimated using the average value of land and buildings 

 from a similar farm in the same geographic area. 



Harvested cropland— This category includes land from which 

 crops were harvested or hay was cut, and land in orchards, 

 citrus groves, vineyards, nurseries, and greenhouses. Land from 

 which two or more crops were harvested was counted only 

 once, even though there was more than one use of the land. 



Cropland used only for pasture or grazing— This category in- 

 cludes land used only for pasture or grazing mat could have 

 been used for crops without additional improvement, and all 



land planted in crops that were grazed before the crops reached 

 maturity. Also included was all cropland used for rotation pas- 

 ture and land in government diversion programs that were 

 pastured. However, cropland that was pastured after crops were 

 harvested was not to be included. 



Other cropland— This category includes cropland used only for 

 soil improvement crops, land on which all crops failed, culti- 

 vated summer fallow, idle cropland, and land planted in crops 

 that were to be harvested after the census year. 



Total woodland— This category includes natural or planted 

 woodlots or timber tracts, cutover and deforested land with 

 young growth which has or will have value for wood products, 

 and land planted for Christmas tree production. Land covered 

 by sagebrush or mesquite was to be reported as other pasture- 

 land and rangeland or other land. 



Woodland pastured— This category includes all woodland used 

 for pasture or grazing during the census year. Woodland or 

 forest land pastured under a per-head grazing permit was not 

 counted as land in farms and therefore was not included in 

 woodland pastured. 



Other land— This category includes land in house lots, barn lots, 

 ponds, roads, wasteland, etc. In 1974, for farms with sales of 

 less than $2,500, this category included pastureland and range- 

 land other than cropland and woodland pastured in addition to 

 land in house lots, barn lots, ponds, roads, and wasteland. 



Land set aside in federal farm programs— This land mcludes land 

 diverted or set aside under the provisions of the Federal Com- 

 modity Acreage Reduction Program. These data are for the 

 acres of cropland taken out of production by growers of wheat, 

 cotton, rice, corn, sorghum, barley, and oats, and devoted to 

 conservation uses. No information was obtained as to which 

 crops would have been grown on the acres set aside. 



Irrigated land— This category includes all land watered by any 

 artificial or controlled means, such as sprinklers, furrows or 

 ditches, and spreader dikes. Included are supplemental, partial, 

 and preplant irrigation. Each acre was to be counted only once 

 regardless of the number of times it was irrigated or harvested. 



Operator— The term "operator" designates a person who oper- 

 ates a farm, either doing the work or making dayto-day de- 

 cisions about such things as planting, harvesting, feeding, 

 marketing, etc. The operator may be the owner, a member of 

 the owner's household, a salaried manager, a tenant, a renter, or 

 a sharecropper. If a person rents land to others or has land 

 worked on shares by others, he/she is considered the operator 

 only of the land which is retained for his/her own operation. 

 For partnerships, only one partner is counted as an operator. 

 If there is no clear-cut partner in charge, then the senior or 

 oldest active partner is considered the operator. For census 

 purposes, the number of operators is the same as the number 

 of farms. In some cases, the operator was not the individual 

 named on the address label of the report form, but another 

 family member, a partner, or a hired manager who was actu- 

 ally in charge of the farm operations. 



Operator characteristics— Data on characteristics such as resi- 

 dence, race, Spanish origin, age, sex, principal occupation, and 

 off-farm work were collected from all operators in 1982. If 



1982 CENSUS OF AGRICULTURE 



APPENDIX A A-3 



