4. Land in “skipped’' rows between rows of crops 
or field strips. 
Cropland, irrigated. See Irrigated land. 
Cropland, other. See Other cropland. 
Cropland, total. See Total cropland. 
Cropland used only for pasture or grazing. See 
Other pasture and grazing land that could have been 
used for crops without additional improvements. 
Crustaceans. These are invertebrate animals with 
jointed legs and a hard shelled segmented body. 
Examples include crawfish, lobster, prawns, shrimp, 
and softshell crabs. 
Custom fed cattle shipped directly for slaughter. 
See Commodities raised and delivered under 
production contract. 
Customwork and custom hauling. See Total farm 
production expenses. 
Customwork and other agricultural services. See 
Total income from farm-related sources, gross before 
taxes and expenses. 
Cuttings, seedlings, liners, and plugs. See Nursery, 
greenhouse, floriculture, sod, mushrooms, vegetable 
seeds, and propagative materials. 
Cut Christmas trees. See Christmas trees, cut. 
Depreciation expenses claimed. The calculation of 
total farm production expenses does not include 
depreciation because it is a capital expense. 
Depreciation allows the expensing of capital 
purchases over multiple years. It is not included in 
the calculation of Net cash farm income of the 
operation and operator. 
Ducks, geese, and other miscellaneous poultry. 
See Miscellaneous poultry. 
Economic class of farms. Economic class data are 
the classification of farms by the sum of market 
value of agricultural products sold and federal farm 
program payments. See Total market value of 
agricultural products sold and government payments. 
2012 Census of Agriculture 
USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service 
Energy. See Renewable energy producing systems. 
Ethanol. See Renewable energy producing systems. 
Expenses. See Total farm production expenses. 
Farm or ranch operator. See Operator 
characteristics. 
Farms by age and primary occupation of 
operator. Data on age and primary occupation were 
obtained from up to three operators per farm. When 
compared with 2007 results, the average age of 
farmers increased slightly. Older operators may be 
“retired” (with little if any sales) and still report 
farming as their primary occupation since they often 
have limited opportunity for off-farm jobs. See 
Primary occupation of the operator. 
Farms by combined government payments and 
market value of agricultural products sold. This 
category represents the value of products sold plus 
government payments. Total value of products sold 
combines total sales not under production contract 
and total sales under production contract. 
Government payments consist of government 
payments received from the Conservation Reserve 
Program (CRP), Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP), 
Farmable Wetlands Program (FWP), or 
Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program 
(CREP) plus government payments received from 
Federal, State, and local programs other than the 
CRP, WRP, FWP, and CREP, and Commodity 
Credit Corporation loans. See Total market value of 
agricultural products sold and government payments. 
The Average Crop Revenue Election (ACRE) 
program allows producers to enroll a farm in the 
program based upon an agreement to forgo counter- 
cyclical payments, receive a 20 percent reduction in 
their direct payments, and a reduction in their 
marketing assistance loan (MAL) rates by 30 percent 
for all commodities produced on the farm. The 
ACRE program provides eligible producers with 
state level revenue guarantees based on the 5 -year 
state average yield and the 2 -year national average 
price. The program is designed to provide revenue 
support to farmers as an alternative to the price 
support that farmers are use to receiving from 
commodity programs. 
Farms by economic class. See Economic class of 
APPENDIX B B -7 
