by the grazing association and included as land in 
farms. All land in American Indian reservations used 
for growing crops, grazing livestock, or with the 
potential of grazing livestock was included as land in 
farms. Land in reservations not reported by 
reservation, individual American Indians, or non- 
Native Americans was reported in the name of the 
cooperative group that used the land. In some 
instances, an entire American Indian reservation was 
reported as one farm. 
Land in orchards. This category includes land in 
bearing age and nonbearing age fruit trees, citrus or 
other groves, vineyards, and nut trees of all ages, 
including land on which all fruit crops failed. 
Respondents also reported bearing age acres and 
nonbearing age acres by individual fruit and nut 
crops. Respondents were instructed not to report 
abandoned plantings and plantings of fewer than 20 
total fruit, citrus, or nut trees or grapevines. 
Land in vegetables. Data are for the total land used 
for vegetable and melon crops. The acres were 
reported only once, even though two or more 
harvests of a vegetable or more than one vegetable 
were harvested from the same acres. Respondents 
also reported harvested acres, acres harvested for 
fresh market, and acres harvested for processing by 
individual vegetable crops. 
Land use practices. This is a new category for 
2012. It includes all agricultural land used for the 
production of agricultural commodities. 
Drained by tile. Tile drainage is a practice that 
removes excess water from the soils subsurface. 
Artificially drained by ditches. A field ditch installed 
for surface drainage for collecting excess surface or 
subsurface water in a field. 
Conservation easement. A conservation easement is 
a legal agreement voluntarily entered into by a 
property owner and a qualified conservation 
organization such as a land trust or government 
agency. 
No-till practices used. Using no-till or minimum till 
is a practice used for weed control and helps reduce 
weed seed germination by not disturbing the soil. 
Conservation tillage. Conserves the soil by reducing 
erosion and decreasing water pollution. 
Conventional tillage. Refers to tillage operations that 
use standard practices for a specific location and 
crop to bury crop residues. 
Cover crop (excluding CRP). A crop planted 
primarily to manage soil fertility, soil quality, water, 
weeds, pests, diseases, or wildlife. 
Layers. This category includes table-egg type layers, 
hatching layers for meat-types, hatching layers for 
table egg types, and reported bantams. 
Legal status for tax purposes. See Farms by legal 
status. 
Livestock and poultry purchased or leased. See 
Total farm production expenses; Livestock and 
poultry purchased or leased. 
Market value of agricultural products sold. This 
category represents the gross market value before 
taxes and production expenses of all agricultural 
products sold or removed from the place in 2012 
regardless of who received the payment. It is 
equivalent to total sales and it includes sales by the 
operators as well as the value of any shares received 
by partners, landlords, contractors, or others 
associated with the operation. It includes value of 
direct sales and the value of commodities placed in 
the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) loan 
program. Market value of agricultural products sold 
does not include payments received for participation 
in other federal farm programs. Also, it does not 
include income from farm-related sources such as 
customwork and other agricultural services, or 
income from nonfarm sources. 
The value of crops sold in 2012 does not necessarily 
represent the sales from crops harvested in 2012. 
Data may include sales from crops produced in 
earlier years and may exclude some crops produced 
in 2012 but held in storage and not sold. For 
commodities such as sugarbeets and wool sold 
through a co-op that made payments in several 
installments, respondents were requested to report 
the total value received in 2012. 
A- 6 APPENDIX 2012 Census of Agriculture 
USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service 
