Appendix B. 
General Explanation and Report Form 
DEVELOPMENT OF THE REPORT FORM 
Planning for the 2013 Farm and Ranch Irrigation 
Survey (FRIS) started in 2009 with the closeout of 
the 2008 FRIS. Extensive correspondence, 
discussions, and meetings took place with 
representatives of the Economic Research Service 
(ERS) regarding 2013 FRIS content. Evaluations 
from NASS staff of the 2008 ERIS were reviewed. 
The decision was made to design a single report 
form version to collect the irrigation data from farm 
and ranch operators and horticultural producers; a 
change from the two separate report forms used in 
the 2008 FRIS. Having one form allowed the same 
questions to be asked of every producer. 
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Water 
Initiative Team, along with individuals from 
government organizations and universities with 
expertise in agricultural irrigation and the irrigation 
industry, were solicited for input on the new report 
form content and design. A draft of the report form 
was developed in headquarters for pretesting. FRIS 
team members administered the pretest to local 
operations. The pretest had several objectives. The 
first objective was to find out whether respondents 
were able to correctly interpret the questions and 
whether or not they were able to answer them. Since 
the FRIS report form was intended to be self- 
administered, another objective was to determine 
whether respondents could easily navigate through 
the report form. This was a critical component to the 
pretest, since horticultural producers would not have 
a tailored version like the one they received in the 
2008 FRIS. Results of the pretest lead to a redesign 
of the report form. 
DATA CHANGES 
Information concerning the data changes from 2003, 
2008, and 2013 are described here. 
Publication Changes 
2003: Data were published for irrigating farms and 
ranches and included data for horticultural 
operations that reported less than $10,000 in sales in 
the 2002 Census of Agriculture. The 2003 FRIS 
table structure is similar to 2008 FRIS Chapter 1 
tables. 
2008: Two report forms were used - one for farm 
and ranch operations and another for horticultural 
operations with any sales in 2008. Data for farm and 
ranch operations were published in Chapter 1, Tables 
1 through 43 (General Data). Horticultural 
operations data were published in Chapter 2, Tables 
1 through 9 (Horticultural Operations Data). To 
bridge the 2003 tables with the 2008 Chapter 1 
tables, the 2003 U.S. data were adjusted in the 2008 
publication by removing data for horticultural 
operations with less than $10,000 in sales. 
2013: A single report form was used to collect data 
from irrigating farm and ranch operations and from 
horticultural operations with any level of sales. Data 
published in Tables 2 through 39 (Entire Farm Data) 
are for all irrigating operations — farms and ranches 
and horticultural operations combined. Data are not 
comparable between the 2013 and 2008 surveys 
because horticultural operations’ data were reported 
separately in 2008 (Chapter 2). The 2013 
horticultural operations data in Tables 40 through 45 
are comparable with their corresponding 2008 
Chapter 2 tables. To provide a measure of 
comparability in the 2013 tables, the 2008 U.S. data 
were adjusted, where possible, to include the 2008 
horticultural operations data. In many of the first 27 
tables, 2008 U.S. data were omitted. 
Table Assignment Changes Between 2008 and 
2013 - The table order has changed from 2008 to 
2013. The table below provides a general guide as to 
2012 Census of Agriculture Appendix B B-1 
USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service 
