agricultural research, soil conservation programs, 
and land-grant colleges and universities; 
• Identify the assets needed to support agricultural 
production such as land, buildings, machinery, 
and other equipment; 
• Create an extensive database of information on 
uncommon crops and livestock and the value of 
those commodities for assessing the need to 
develop policies and programs to support those 
commodities; 
• Provide geographic data on production so 
agribusinesses will locate near major production 
areas for efficiencies for both producers and 
agribusinesses; 
• Measure the usage of modem technologies such 
as conservation practices, organic production, 
renewable energy systems, internet access, and 
specialized marketing strategies; 
• Develop new and improved methods to increase 
agricultural production and profitability; 
• Plan for operations during drought and 
emergency outbreaks of diseases or infestations 
of pests. 
AUTHORITY 
The 2012 Census of Agriculture is required by law 
under the “Census of Agriculture Act of 1997,” 
Public Law 105-113 (Title 7, United States Code, 
Section 2204g). The law directs the Secretary of 
Agriculture to conduct a census of agriculture every 
fifth year. The census of agriculture includes each 
State, Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, 
the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands, 
and American Samoa. 
FARM DEFINITION 
The census definition of a farm is 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. The definition has 
changed nine times since it was established in 1850. 
VIII INTRODUCTION 
The current definition was first used for the 1974 
Census of Agriculture and has been used in each 
subsequent agriculture census. This definition is 
consistent with the definition used for current USD A 
surveys. The farm definition used for each U.S. 
territory varies. The report for each territory 
includes a discussion of its farm definition. 
DATA COMPARABILITY 
Most data are comparable between the 2012 and 
2007 censuses. A few changes were made to the 
2012 census that affect comparability for some data 
items. See Appendix B, General Explanation and 
Census of Agriculture Report Form, Data Changes 
for a detailed discussion of these changes. Dollar 
figures are expressed in current dollars and have not 
been adjusted for inflation or deflation. In general, 
data for censuses since 1974 are not fully 
comparable with data for 1969 and earlier censuses 
due to changes in the farm definition. 
REFERENCE PERIOD 
Reference periods for the 2012 Census of 
Agriculture were similar to those used in the 2007 
Census of Agriculture. Reference periods used were: 
• Crop production is measured for the calendar 
year, except for a few crops such as avocados, 
citrus, and olives for which the production year 
overlaps the calendar year. See Appendix B, 
General Explanation and Census of Agriculture 
Report Form for details. 
• Livestock, poultry, and machinery and equipment 
inventories, market value of land and buildings, 
and grain storage capacity are measured as of 
December 3 1 of the census year. 
• Crop and livestock sales, other farm-related 
income, direct sales income, income from federal 
farm programs, Commodity Credit Corporation 
loans, Conservation Reserve, Farmable Wetlands, 
Conservation Reserve Enhancement, and 
Wetlands Reserve Program participation, farm 
expenses, chemical and fertilizer use, irrigated 
acreage, and hired farm labor data are measured 
for the calendar year. 
2012 Census of Agriculture 
USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service 
