Also, there is a 1987 Economic Censuses of Outlying 

 Areas publication for the Commonwealth of the Northern 

 Mariana Islands (OA87-E-7). 



DEFINITIONS AND EXPLANATIONS 



The following definitions and explanations provide a 

 more detailed description of terms used in this publication 

 than are available in the tables or on the questionnaire. For 

 an exact wording of the questions on the 1 990 question- 

 naire, see appendix B. 



In the tables, data for land in farms, land use, fruit and 

 nut trees, and livestock and poultry on hand represent the 

 situation existing at the time of enumeration of each farm. 

 The enumeration for the 1 990 Census of Agriculture began 

 in April 1990 and the 1980 census in April 1980. All other 

 data, such as that relating to acres and production, are for 

 the calendar years 1 989 and 1 979. Sales are for 1 989 only. 



Farm operator— The term "operator" designates a 

 person who operates a farm, either by doing the work 

 himself/herself or directly supervising the work. The oper- 

 ator may be the owner, a member of the owner's house- 

 hold, a tenant or renter, the manager, or the person in 

 charge of an institutional farm. By definition, the number of 

 farm operators is the same as the number of farms. 



Farms or farms reporting— The term "farms" or "farms 

 reporting" in the presentation of data denotes the number 

 of farms reporting the item. 



Land in farms— The land in farms was determined from 

 the answers to questions 1 through 4 in section 1 of the 

 questionnaire (see app. B). The amounts of land reported 

 as owned and rented from others were added together, 

 and the amount of land reported as rented to others was 

 subtracted from that sum. The result represents "land in 

 farms." Although the area designated land in farms con- 

 sists primarily of agricultural land, i.e.— land used for 

 crops, pasture, or grazing— it also included areas of land 

 not actually under cultivation nor used for pasture or 

 grazing. For example, woodland and wasteland owned or 

 rented from others were included as land in farms unless 

 the report indicated it was being held for nonagricultural 

 purposes, such as recreational or for timber. 



Land owned— This includes all land held by the opera- 

 tor or his/her spouse under title, purchase contract, or as 

 heir or trustee of an undivided estate at the time of 

 enumeration. Land managed by a hired manager also was 

 considered owned. 



Land rented from others— This includes not only land 

 that the operator rented or leased from others, but also 

 land worked on shares for others and land used rent free. 



Land rented to others— This includes all land the 

 operator rented or leased to others and all land assigned 

 to others on shares or rent free during the past year. For 



the most part, the land rented to others represents agri- 

 cultural land, but it also may include land rented for 

 residential or other purposes. The tenant is considered to 

 be the operator of land leased, rented, or worked on 

 shares, even though the landlord may supervise the oper- 

 ations. The landlord is considered to be the operator of 

 only that portion of the land not assigned to tenants. 



Land use — Land in farms is categorized according to 

 the way it was being used on enumeration day. The land 

 uses described in the following paragraphs are mutually 

 exclusive in that each acre of land is counted only once, 

 even though it may have had more than one use during the 

 year. 



• Cropland used for crops— This includes all land 

 planted in crops at the time of enumeration. Land was 

 to be reported only once, even if two or more crops 

 were planted on the same land. It includes field crops 

 that were grazed when mature or almost mature; land 

 in bearing and nonbearing fruit and nut trees or 

 plants, or any other tree crops; land that had partial 

 but not total crop failure; and land in home gardens. 



• Cropland not used for crops— This includes all land 

 that the operator considered as cropland but on 

 which no crops were planted. It includes land used for 

 pasture and grazing that the operator feels could 

 have been used for crops; land with total crop failure 

 as a result of drought, flood, insect, fire, or other 

 causes; idle and fallow cropland; and cropland with 

 soil improvement grass, cover crops, etc., for the 

 purpose of improvement. 



• Pasture or grazing land— This includes all land 

 suitable for pasture or grazing, except land used for 

 crops and cropland pasture whether or not used for 

 grazing livestock. It also includes woodland being 

 used for pasture. 



• Other land— This includes all land that did not qualify 

 either as cropland or pastureland. It includes land in 

 house and building lots, lanes, roads, ditches, ponds, 

 swamps, steep slopes, wasteland, brushland, and 

 nonpastured woodland. 



Type of holding — Agricultural operations were classi- 

 fied according to the response the enumerator obtained 

 from the farm operator as to whether the farm was 

 producing mainly for home consumption or mainly for sale. 



• Holdings producing mainly for home consump- 

 tion — This applies to holdings from which more than 

 50 percent of the agricultural output was consumed 

 by the holder's household. 



• Holdings producing mainly for sale— This applies 

 to holdings from which 50 percent or more of the 

 agricultural output was for sale. These holdings were 

 further classified by the farm operator according to 

 their most important activity. If 50 percent or more of 



A-2 APPENDIX A 



1987 CENSUS OF AGRICULTURE 



