documented. CATI ealling of nonrespondent Must 
eases was undertaken by call centers from Mareh 
2013 through May 2013, after the initial and first 
follow-up mailing. Following the CATI calling, the 
remaining nonresponse Must eases were assigned to 
field offiees for personal enumeration. Beeause of 
the potential importanee of Must eases, they were all 
aeeounted 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 Mexieo and Utah thought to have an 
American Indian or Alaska Native operator. It was 
ineluded in the initial mailout, but due to poor mail 
response a personal enumeration data eolleetion 
strategy was utilized with no additional mail follow- 
up. A eoneerted effort was made to get individual 
reports from every American Indian and Alaska 
Native farm operator in the eountry. If this was not 
possible within a reservation, a single reservation- 
level eensus report was obtained from 
knowledgeable reservation offieials. These reports 
covered agricultural activity on the entire 
reservation. The NASS reviewed these data and 
removed any duplieate data reported by American 
Indian or Alaska Native farm operators from that 
reservation who responded on an individual eensus 
report form. Additionally NASS obtained, from 
knowledgeable reservation offieials, the eount 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 aetivity was used 
to inerease the response rate in all eounties to at least 
75 pereent. CATI was used for this follow-up 
activity. NASS utilized an adaptive design teehnique 
to identify partieular reeords for telephone eontaet, 
in an effort to inerease eoverage on minority 
operations and operations known to produce 
speeialty eommodities. In early April 2013, NASS 
identified nonresponse eases in eounties with a 
response rate of less than 75 pereent. Nonresponse 
reeords in these eounties were then prioritized so that 
minority operations and speeialty eommodity 
produeers were the primary reeords delivered to 
A-6 APPENDIX A 
phone enumerators. Nonrespondent telephone 
eontaet information was transmitted eleetronieally to 
NASS eall eenters and ineorporated into their CATI 
instrument. CATI follow-up aetivities began in mid- 
April 2013 and eontinued through mid- June 2012. 
Automated proeedures were employed biweekly to 
ensure that the reeord seleetion proeedures were 
targeting eounties that would meet the goals of 
inereasing minority operation eoverage and to 
monitor the number of respondents needed to reach 
the 75 pereent eounty response rate. When the 
required number of eompletions was aehieved for a 
given eounty, LRC aetivity was suspended in that 
eounty. 
Last Call Nonresponse Follow-up. The Last Call 
Nonresponse Follow-up activity was utilized to 
inerease the national response rate to 80 pereent. All 
remaining nonresponse reeords with an expeeted 
value of sales greater than $50,000 in eounties that 
had not aehieved a 75 -pereent response rate were 
eligible for this phone follow-up aetivity. CATI was 
used for this aetivity and began in mid- July 2013 and 
lasted until August 1, 2013. Automated proeedures 
were employed to monitor the number of 
respondents needed and eompleted. When a 75 
pereent response rate was achieved for a given 
eounty, follow-up in that eounty was suspended. 
NASS aehieved its goal of an 80-percent national 
response rate utilizing Last Call Nonresponse 
Follow-up. 
Not on the Mail List (NML) Follow-up. To 
aecount for farming operations not on the CML, 
NASS used its 2012 JAS supplemented sample from 
the NASS area frame. The NASS area frame eovers 
all land in the U.S. with the exeeption of Alaska and 
ineludes all farms. As previously deseribed, the 
NASS eondueted a reeord linkage operation between 
the CML reeords and the reeords from the 2012 JAS. 
Those 2012 JAS reeords that did not match records 
on the CML were designated as “Not on the Mail 
List (NML)” reeords. These records were mailed a 
yellow eensus form so that it eould be differentiated 
from the green forms mailed to CML reeords. The 
NML reeords were mailed at the same time as the 
eensus mailing and reeeived the same follow-up 
proeedures as the census mailing through the first 
follow-up in mid-February 2013. Beginning in 
Mareh 2013, CATI was used for nonresponse 
follow-up for NML nonrespondents. 
2012 Census of Agriculture 
USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service 
