are due to coverage, response, and classification 
adjustments are displayed in Tables A and C. 
DISCLOSURE REVIEW 
After tabulation and review of the aggregates, a 
comprehensive disclosure review was conducted. 
NASS is obligated to withhold, under Title 7, U.S. 
Code, any total that would reveal an individual’s 
information or allow it to be closely estimated by the 
public. Cell suppression was used to protect the 
cells that were determined to be sensitive to a 
disclosure of information. Farm counts are not 
considered sensitive and are not subject to disclosure 
controls. 
Based on agency standards, data cells were 
determined to be sensitive to a disclosure of 
information if they violated either of two criteria 
rules. The threshold rule was violated if the data cell 
contained less than three operations. For example, if 
only one farmer produced turkeys in a county, NASS 
could not publish the county total for turkey 
inventory without disclosing that individual’s 
information. The dominance rule was violated if the 
distribution of the data within the cell allowed a data 
user to estimate any respondent’s data too closely. 
For example, if there are many farmers producing 
turkeys in a county and some of them were large 
enough to dominate the cell total, NASS could not 
publish the county total for turkey inventory without 
risking disclosing an individual respondent’s data. 
In both of these situations, the data were suppressed 
and a “(D)” was placed in the cell in the census 
publication table. These data cells were referred to 
as primary suppressions. 
Since most items were summed to marginal totals, 
primary suppressions within these summation 
relationships were protected by ensuring that there 
were additional suppressions within the linear 
relationship that provided adequate protection for the 
primary. A detailed computer routine selected 
additional data cells for suppression to ensure all 
primary suppressions were properly protected in all 
linear relationships in all tables. These data cells 
were referred to as complementary suppressions. 
These cells were not themselves sensitive to a 
disclosure of information but were suppressed to 
protect other primary suppressions. A “(D)” was also 
placed in the cell of the census publication table to 
A-14 APPENDIX A 
indicate a complementary suppression. A data user 
could not determine whether a cell with a (D) 
represented a primary or a complementary 
suppression. 
Field office analysts reviewed all complementary 
suppressions to ensure no cells had been withheld 
that were vital to the data users. In instances where 
complimentary suppressions were deemed critically 
important to a State or county, analysts requested an 
override and a different complementary cell was 
chosen. 
CENSUS QUALITY 
The purpose of the census of agriculture is to 
account for “any place from which $1,000 or more 
of agricultural products were produced and sold, or 
normally would have been sold, during the census 
year.” To accomplish this, NASS develops a CML 
that contains identifying information for operations 
that have an indication of meeting the census 
definition, develops procedures to collect 
agricultural information from those records, 
establishes criteria for analyst review of the data, 
creates computer routines to correct or complete the 
requested information, and provides census estimates 
of the characteristics of farms and farm operators 
with associated measures of uncertainty. 
It is not likely that either the CML includes all 
operations that meet the definition of a farm or that 
all those that do meet the definition of a farm 
respond to the census inquiry. The goal is to publish 
data with a high level of quality. There are many 
ways to measure the quality of a census. 
One of the first indicators used is a measure of the 
response to the census data collection as it has 
generally been thought that a high response rate 
indicates more complete coverage of the population 
of interest. This is a valid assumption if the 
enumeration list, the CML here, has complete 
coverage of the population of interest. In the case of 
the census of agriculture, the definition requiring 
advance knowledge of sales makes achieving a high 
level of coverage difficult. To ensure that the census 
of agriculture is as complete as possible, records are 
included that might not meet the census definition of 
a farm - in fact, almost 50 percent more records than 
the anticipated number of qualifying farm operations 
2012 Census of Agriculture 
USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service 
