operator characteristics of race, age, sex, and principal occu- 

 pation were not reported, they were derived based on infor- 

 mation reported by farms with similar acreage size, tenure, 

 and sales size. No imputations were made for nonresponse 

 to place of residence, Spanish origin, off-farm work, or year 

 began operation. For the 1982 and 1978 censuses, operators 

 of Spanish origin were tabulated by reported race. Prior cen- 

 suses included Spanish origin as "White" whenever separate 

 data for the White race were shown. 



Selected farm production expenses— Since only selected pro- 

 duction expenses incurred in 1982 were requested, the ex- 

 pense data cannot be used in combination with gross sales 

 to calculate net cash farm income. The 1979 Farm Finance 

 Survey provided estimates on net cash farm income. 



In 1982, as in other recent censuses, operators producing 

 crops, livestock, or poultry under contract frequently failed 

 to report certain expenditure data. They often were unable 

 or unwilling to estimate the cost of production inputs fur- 

 nished by the contractors. As a consequence, the rate of impu- 

 tation of expenditure data for these operations is considerably 

 higher than it is for noncontract producers. 



Commercial fertilizer— Ihe expense for commercial ferti- 

 lizer is the amount spent on fertilizer during 1982, ex- 

 cluding the cost of application. Some fertilizer purchased 

 in 1982 may not have been applied during the year. If the 

 fertilizer was applied by someone other than the operator, 

 respondents were requested to report the cost of applica- 

 tion as an expense for customwork, machine hire, and ren- 

 tal of machinery and equipment. 



Other agricultural chemicals— Ti\ese expenses include the 

 cost of all insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, and other 

 pesticides, excluding costs of application. Data exclude 

 commercial fertilizer purchased. The cost of lime is included 

 in the 1978 data, but excluded from 1982. 



Customwork, machine hire, and rental of machinery and 

 equipment— These expenses include costs incurred for 

 having customwork done on the place and for renting ma- 

 chines to perform agricultural operations. The cost of cotton 

 ginning is excluded. The cost of labor involved in the custom- 

 work service is included in the customwork expense. The 

 cost of labor for operating rented or hired machinery is in- 

 cluded as a hired farm and ranch labor expense. 



Interest expense— Only the interest expense for the farm 

 business was to be reported. Although instructions requested 

 that interest on the owner/operator dwelling be excluded 

 when separate records were available, it is probable that an 

 undetermined amount of such nonfarm business interest was 

 also reported. 



Energy and petroleum proc/t/cB— Respondents were asked to 

 report only those expenses pertaining to the operation of 

 the farm business. 



Storage capacity— This category applies to those farms reporting 

 expenditures for the specific kind of fuel. The storage capacity 

 was to be reported even if not used during the census year. 



Farms with storage capacity reported as "/7o"-This category 

 includes farm operators with expenditures for a specific kind 

 of fuel who also checked the "none" box for storage capacity. 

 See appendix C, section 26, Expenditures for Energy. 



Market value of agricultural products sold— This category repre- 

 sents the gross market value before taxes and production ex- 

 penses of all agricultural products sold or removed from the 

 place in 1982 regardless of who received the payment. It includes 

 sales by the operator as well as the value of any shares received 

 by partners, landlords, contractors, or others associated with the 

 operation. In addition, it includes the loan value received in 

 1982 for placing commodities in the CCC loan program. This 

 ensures comparability with prior census years for market value 

 of agricultural products sold. 



The value of agricultural products sold represents total sales 

 of all crops, including nursery products sold, and livestock, 

 poultry, and their products sold. It does not include income 

 from farm-related sources such as customwork or agricultural 

 services, or income from nonfarm sources. Sales of forest prod- 

 ucts were not included in 1978 or 1982; but were included in 

 1974. 



The value of crops sold in 1982 does not necessarily repre- 

 sent the sales from crops harvested in 1982. Data may include 

 sales from crops produced in earlier years and exclude some 

 crops produced in 1982, but held in storage and not sold. For 

 commodities, such as sugar beets and wool, sold through a co-op 

 which made payments in several installments, respondents 

 were requested to report only the total value received in 1982. 



The value of agricultural products sold was collected from all 

 operators. If the operator failed to report, estimates were made 

 based on the amount of crops harvested or the number of live- 

 stock or poultry sold. Extensive estimation was required for 

 operators growing crops or livestock under contract. 



Caution should be used when comparing sales in 1982 with 

 sales reported in earlier censuses due to the fluctuations in per- 

 unit prices between census years. 



Income from machine work, customwork, and other agri- 

 cultural services— This category consists of gross income re- 

 ceived during 1982 by farm operators for providing services for 

 others such as planting, plowing, spraying, harvesting, etc. In- 

 come from machine work and other agricultural services is 

 generally included in the agriculture census if it is supplement- 

 al to the farming operation. However, it is excluded if it 

 constitutes a separate establishment or is conducted from an- 

 other location. The agricultural services part of a farming 

 operation was generally considered a separate establishment 

 when income from agricultural services was $10,000 or more 

 and greater than the value of agricultural products sold. Due to 

 legislative restrictions, data for establishments primarily en- 

 gaged in agricultural services were not collected in 1982. 



Agricultural chemicals used, including fertilizer and lime— For 



each type of agricultural chemical, the acres treated were to be 

 reported only once. If multipurpose chemicals were used, the 

 acres treated for each purpose were to be reported. 



Fish and other aquacultural products— The raising of fish and 

 other aquacultural products in captivity is included in the agri- 

 culture census. Production in salt water is considered not to be 

 in captivity and is excluded from the census. The value of fish 

 and other aquacultural products sold and laboratory animals 



A-4 APPENDIX A 



1982 CENSUS OF AGRICULTURE 



