farms and Total market value of agricultural 
products sold and government payments 
Farms by legal status. All farms were classified by 
legal status in the 2012 census. In 2007 this category 
was referred to as Farms by type of organization. 
This section collects information for federal tax 
purposes to determine an operation’s legal status. 
The classifications used were: 
1. Family or individual (sole proprietorship), 
excluding partnership and corporation. 
2. Partnership, including family partnership - in 
selected tables, partnership was further 
subclassified into: 
a. Registered under State law. 
b. Not registered under State law. 
3. Corporation, including family corporations - in 
selected tables, partnership was further 
subclassified into: 
a. Family held or other than family held. 
b. More than 10 stockholders. 
4. Other, cooperative, estate or trust, institutional, 
etc. 
Farms by North American Industry 
Classification System (NAICS). The NAICS 
classifies economic activities. It was jointly 
developed by Mexico, Canada, and the U.S. NAICS 
makes it possible to produce comparable industrial 
statistics for Mexico, Canada, and the U.S. For the 
2012 census, all agricultural production 
establishments (farms, ranches, nurseries, 
greenhouses, etc.) were classified by type of activity 
or activities using the NAICS code. The 2012 
census is the fourth census to use NAICS. Censuses 
prior to the 1997 census used the old Standard 
Industrial Classification (SIC) system to classify 
farms. 
NAICS was developed to provide a consistent 
framework for the collection, analysis, and 
dissemination of industrial statistics used by 
government policy analysts, academia and 
researchers, the business community, and the public. 
It is the first industry classification system developed 
B -8 APPENDIX B 
in accordance with a single principle of aggregation 
that production units using similar production 
processes should be grouped together. Though 
NAICS differs from other industry classification 
systems, statistics compiled on NAICS are 
comparable with statistics compiled according to the 
latest revision of the United Nations’ International 
Standard Industrial Classification, Revision Three, 
(ISIC, Revision 3) for some sixty high level 
groupings. Following are explanations of the major 
classifications used in 2012. 
Oilseed and grain farming (1111). Comprises 
establishments primarily engaged in (1) growing 
oilseed and/or grain crops and/or (2) producing 
oilseed and grain seeds. These crops have an annual 
life cycle and are typically grown in open fields. 
This category includes corn silage and grain silage. 
Vegetable and melon farming (11121). Comprises 
establishments primarily engaged in one or more of 
the following: (1) growing vegetables and/or melon 
crops, (2) producing vegetable and melon seeds, and 
(3) growing vegetable and/or melon bedding plants. 
Fruit and tree nut farming (1113). Comprises 
establishments primarily engaged in growing fruit 
and/or tree nut crops. These crops are generally not 
grown from seeds and have a perennial life cycle. 
Greenhouse, nursery, and floriculture production 
(1114). Comprises establishments primarily engaged 
in growing crops of any kind under cover and/or 
growing nursery stock and flowers. “Under cover” 
is generally defined as greenhouses, cold frames, 
cloth houses, and lath houses. Crops grown are 
removed at various stages of maturity and have 
annual and perennial life cycles. The category 
includes short rotation woody crops and Christmas 
trees that have a growing and harvesting cycle of 10 
years or less. 
Other crop farming (1119). Comprises 
establishments primarily engaged in (1) growing 
crops such as tobacco, cotton, sugarcane, hay, 
sugarbeets, peanuts, agave, herbs and spices, and hay 
and grass seeds, or (2) growing a combination of the 
valid crops with no one crop or family of crops 
accounting for one-half of the establishment’s 
agricultural production (value of crops for market). 
2012 Census of Agriculture 
USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service 
