documented. CATI calling of nonrespondent Must 
cases was undertaken by call centers from March 
2013 through May 2013, after the initial and first 
follow-up mailing. Following the CATI calling, the 
remaining nonresponse Must cases were assigned to 
field offices for personal enumeration. Because of 
the potential importance of Must cases, they were all 
accounted for and therefore not eligible for 
nonresponse weighting adjustment. 
American Indian and Alaska Native Farm 
Operator Follow-up. The American Indian report 
form (12-A200) was mailed to all operations in 
Arizona, New Mexico and Utah thought to have an 
American Indian or Alaska Native operator. It was 
included in the initial mailout, but due to poor mail 
response a personal enumeration data collection 
strategy was utilized with no additional mail follow- 
up. A concerted effort was made to get individual 
reports from every American Indian and Alaska 
Native farm operator in the country. If this was not 
possible within a reservation, a single reservation- 
level census report was obtained from 
knowledgeable reservation officials. These reports 
covered agricultural activity on the entire 
reservation. The NASS reviewed these data and 
removed any duplicate data reported by American 
Indian or Alaska Native farm operators from that 
reservation who responded on an individual census 
report form. Additionally NASS obtained, from 
knowledgeable reservation officials, the count of 
American Indian and Alaska Native farm operators 
(on the reservations) who were not counted through 
individual census report forms, but whose 
agricultural activity was included in the reservation- 
level report form. 
Low Response County Follow-up. The Low 
Response County (LRC) follow-up activity was used 
to increase the response rate in all counties to at least 
75 percent. CATI was used for this follow-up 
activity. NASS utilized an adaptive design technique 
to identify particular records for telephone contact, 
in an effort to increase coverage on minority 
operations and operations known to produce 
specialty commodities. In early April 2013, NASS 
identified nonresponse cases in counties with a 
response rate of less than 75 percent. Nonresponse 
records in these counties were then prioritized so that 
minority operations and specialty commodity 
producers were the primary records delivered to 
A- 6 APPENDIX A 
phone enumerators. Nonrespondent telephone 
contact information was transmitted electronically to 
NASS call centers and incorporated into their CATI 
instrument. CATI follow-up activities began in mid- 
April 2013 and continued through mid- June 2012. 
Automated procedures were employed biweekly to 
ensure that the record selection procedures were 
targeting counties that would meet the goals of 
increasing minority operation coverage and to 
monitor the number of respondents needed to reach 
the 75 percent county response rate. When the 
required number of completions was achieved for a 
given county, LRC activity was suspended in that 
county. 
Last Call Nonresponse Follow-up. The Last Call 
Nonresponse Follow-up activity was utilized to 
increase the national response rate to 80 percent. All 
remaining nonresponse records with an expected 
value of sales greater than $50,000 in counties that 
had not achieved a 75 -percent response rate were 
eligible for this phone follow-up activity. CATI was 
used for this activity and began in mid-July 2013 and 
lasted until August 1, 2013. Automated procedures 
were employed to monitor the number of 
respondents needed and completed. When a 75 
percent response rate was achieved for a given 
county, follow-up in that county was suspended. 
NASS achieved its goal of an 80-percent national 
response rate utilizing Last Call Nonresponse 
Follow-up. 
Not on the Mail List (NML) Follow-up. To 
account for farming operations not on the CML, 
NASS used its 2012 JAS supplemented sample from 
the NASS area frame. The NASS area frame covers 
all land in the U.S. with the exception of Alaska and 
includes all farms. As previously described, the 
NASS conducted a record linkage operation between 
the CML records and the records from the 2012 JAS. 
Those 2012 JAS records that did not match records 
on the CML were designated as “Not on the Mail 
List (NML)” records. These records were mailed a 
yellow census form so that it could be differentiated 
from the green forms mailed to CML records. The 
NML records were mailed at the same time as the 
census mailing and received the same follow-up 
procedures as the census mailing through the first 
follow-up in mid-February 2013. Beginning in 
March 2013, CATI was used for nonresponse 
follow-up for NML nonrespondents. 
2012 Census of Agriculture 
USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service 
