practices. 
Operations with land enrolled in the CRP, WRP, 
FWP, or CREP were eounted as farms, given they 
reeeived $1,000 or more in government payments, 
even if they had no sales and otherwise laeked the 
potential to have $1,000 or more in sales. 
Land in berries. Data are for total land in berries. 
Respondents also reported harvested aeres and not 
harvested aeres by individual berry erops. 
Land in farms. The acreage designated as “land in 
farms” consists primarily of agricultural land used 
for erops, pasture, or grazing. It also ineludes 
woodland and wasteland not aetually under 
eultivation or used for pasture or grazing, provided it 
was part of the farm operator’s total operation. Large 
aereages of woodland or wasteland held for 
nonagrieultural purposes were deleted from 
individual reports during the edit proeess. Land in 
farms includes CRP, WRP, FWP, and CREP aeres. 
Land in farms is an operating unit eoneept and 
ineludes land owned and operated as well as land 
rented from others. Land used rent free was reported 
as land rented from others. All grazing land, exeept 
land used under government permits on a per-head 
basis, was included as “land in farms” provided it 
was part of a farm or raneh. Land under the 
exclusive use of a grazing assoeiation was reported 
by the grazing assoeiation and ineluded as land in 
farms. All land in Ameriean Indian reservations used 
for growing erops, grazing livestoek, or with the 
potential of grazing livestoek was ineluded as land in 
farms. Land in reservations not reported by 
reservation, individual Ameriean Indians, or non- 
Native Amerieans was reported in the name of the 
eooperative group that used the land. In many 
instanees, an entire Ameriean Indian reservation was 
reported as one farm. 
Land in orchards. This eategory includes land in 
bearing age and nonbearing age fruit trees, eitrus or 
other groves, vineyards, and nut trees of all ages, 
ineluding land on whieh all fruit erops failed. 
Respondents also reported bearing age aeres and 
nonbearing age aeres by individual fruit and nut 
erops. Respondents were instrueted not to report 
abandoned plantings and plantings of fewer than 20 
total fruit, eitrus, or nut trees or grapevines. 
2012 Census of Agriculture 
USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service 
Land in two or more counties. With few 
exeeptions, the land in eaeh farm was tabulated as 
being in the operator’s principal county. The 
prineipal eounty was defined as the one where the 
largest value of agrieultural produets was raised or 
produeed. It was usually the eounty eontaining all or 
the largest proportion of the land in the farm or 
viewed by the respondent as his/her prineipal eounty. 
Reports reeeived showing land in more than one 
eounty were separated into two or more reports if the 
data would substantially distort eounty totals. 
Land use practices. This is a new eategory for 
2012. It ineludes all agrieultural land used for the 
produetion of agrieultural eommodities. 
Drained by tile. Tile drainage is a praetiee that 
removes exeess water from the soils subsurfaee. 
Artificially drained by ditches. A field diteh installed 
for surfaee drainage for eolleeting exeess surfaee or 
subsurfaee water in a field. 
Conservation easement. A eonservation easement is 
a legal agreement voluntarily entered into by a 
property owner and a qualified eonservation 
organization sueh as a land trust or government 
ageney 
No-till practices used. Using no-till or minimum till 
is a praetiee used for weed eontrol and helps reduee 
weed seed germination by not disturbing the soil. 
Conservation tillage. Conserves the soil by redueing 
erosion and deereasing water pollution. 
Conventional tillage. Refers to tillage operations that 
use standard praetiees for a speeifie loeation and 
erop to bury erop residues. 
Cover crop. A erop planted primarily to manage soil 
fertility, soil quality, water, weeds, pests, diseases, or 
wildlife. 
Land used for vegetables. Data are for the total 
land used for vegetable and melon erops. The aeres 
were reported only onee, even though two or more 
harvests of a vegetable or more than one vegetable 
were harvested from the same aeres. Respondents 
also reported harvested aeres, aeres harvested for 
APPENDIX B B- 13 
