INTRODUCTION 



Page 



HISTORY V 



USES OF THE CENSUS V 



AUTHORITY AND AREA COVERED V 



FARM DEFINITION V 



COMPARABILITY OF DATA V 



TABULAR PRESENTATION V 



SPECIAL TABULATIONS V 



CENSUS DISCLOSURE RULES V 



INVENTORIES, PRODUCTION, AND SALES DATA VI 



ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS VI 



HISTORY • 



The 1990 Census of Agriculture for the Northern Mari- 

 ana Islands is the third census to be taken by the U.S. 

 Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census. The first 

 agriculture census was taken in 1970 as part of the 

 decennial census of population and housing and has 

 continued every 10 years. 



USES OF THE CENSUS 



The census of agriculture is the recognized source of 

 statistics about the Northern Mariana Islands' agricultural 

 production and the only source of consistent, comparable 

 data at the municipality level. Census statistics are used to 

 measure agricultural production and to identify trends in an 

 ever changing agricultural sector. Many local programs 

 use census data as a benchmark for designing and 

 evaluating surveys. Private industry uses census statistics 

 to provide a more effective production and distribution 

 system for the agricultural community. 



AUTHORITY AND AREA COVERED 



The census of agriculture is required by law under Title 

 13, United States Code, sections 142(a) and 191. The 

 census of agriculture in the Northern Mariana Islands is 

 conducted every 10 years and was included with the 1990 

 Census of Population and Housing. Beginning in 1997, the 

 census will be conducted every 5 years as it is in each 

 State, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands of the 

 United States. 



FARM DEFINITION 



The statistics presented in this report relate to places 

 qualifying as census farms. Chapter 1 uses the new farm 

 definition, which defines a farm as any place from which 



$1 00 or more of agricultural products were sold or normally 

 would have been sold during the census year. Chapter 2 

 provides comparable 1 990 data according to the old farm 

 definition used in previous censuses, which defined a farm 

 as having a minimum number of livestock, poultry, fruit or 

 nut trees, or any crops or vegetables harvested for sale. 



COMPARABILITY OF DATA 



Data comparability has been maintained in chapter 2 

 which contains the 1980 data along with the comparable 

 1990 data. Dollar figures shown for agricultural product 

 sales only apply under the new farm definition in chapter 1 . 



TABULAR PRESENTATION 



Island data— Chapter 1 , tables 1 through 8 and chapter 

 2, tables 1 through 7 show detailed data for the Northern 

 Mariana Islands. Chapter 1, tables 21 through 24 provide 

 1990 data for the Northern Mariana Islands cross tabu- 

 lated by tenure of operator, size of farm, age of operator, 

 and value of agricultural products sold. 



Municipality data— Data are presented for municipali- 

 ties in chapter 1, tables 9 through 20 and in chapter 2, 

 tables 8 through 17. 



SPECIAL TABULATIONS 



Custom designed tabulations are available to individual 

 user specifications on a programming cost reimbursable 

 basis. Inquiries about special tabulations should be directed 

 to the Chief, Agriculture Division, Bureau of the Census, 

 Washington, DC 20233. 



CENSUS DISCLOSURE RULES 



In keeping with the provisions of Title 13, United States 

 Code, no data are published that would disclose the 

 operations of an individual farm. However, the number of 

 farms in a given size category or other classification, such 

 as size of farm, is not considered a release of confidential 

 information and is provided even though other information 

 such as crop production, number of livestock, and sales is 

 withheld. 



1987 CENSUS OF AGRICULTURE 



INTRODUCTION V 



