Floriculture and bedding crops. Includes annual 
bedding/garden plants, herbaceous perennials, cut 
flowers and cut cultivated greens, foliage plants for 
indoor or patio use, potted flowering plants, and 
other floriculture type crops. 
Food crops grown under protection. Includes all 
food crops that were grown in a greenhouse or under 
some sort of structure that regulated light, shade, 
temperature, etc. No food crops grown in open fields 
were reported for this crop type. 
Mushroom crops. Includes all mushroom species 
that were irrigated in 2008. Logs were converted to 
and reported in square feet. 
Nursery crops. Includes deciduous shade and 
flowering trees, broadleaf and coniferous evergreens, 
live Christmas trees for sale as potted trees or balled 
and burlapped, fruit and nut plants, ornamental 
grasses, palms for landscaping, shrubs, vines, aquatic 
plants, and other woody ornamentals. 
Propagative materials. Includes dry bulbs, corms, 
tubers, and rhizomes; cuttings, seedlings, liners, and 
plugs; flower seeds; vegetable seeds; vegetable 
transplants; and tobacco transplants. 
Sod. Includes all irrigated sod, sprigs, or plugs. 
Other horticultural crops. This category includes all 
crops that are primarily considered ornamental or 
horticultural and are not listed. Fruit, nut, and 
vegetable crops grown in the open are not considered 
horticultural crops. 
Institutional, research, and experimental farms. 
In the 2012 and 2007 Censuses of Agriculture, data 
for these farms were combined with American 
Indian reservation farms into one category. 
However, in the 2013 and 2008 Farm and Ranch 
Irrigation Surveys, only American Indian reservation 
farms were included in the sample while 
institutional, research, and experimental farms were 
excluded. 
Irrigated farms. Irrigated farms or ranches are 
those with any agricultural land irrigated by any 
artificial or controlled means in the specific calendar 
year. The acreage irrigated may vary from a very 
small portion of the total acreage in the farm or 
2012 Census of Agriculture 
USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service 
ranch to irrigation of all agricultural land in the farm 
or ranch. This includes reclaimed water and 
livestock lagoon wastewater distributed by sprinkler 
or flood systems. 
Irrigated land. Irrigated land is defined as “all land 
watered by artificial or controlled means.” No 
attempt was made to define the degree or intensity of 
irrigation. Therefore, the data for irrigated land 
include land with as little as one-half inch of water 
applied as well as land with several acre-feet of 
water applied. 
Irrigation pumps. The inventory data for number 
of irrigation pumps include well pumps and pumps 
other than well pumps used for irrigation on the 
operation. 
Land in farms. The acreage designated as “land in 
farms” consists primarily of agricultural land used 
for crops, pasture, or grazing. It also includes 
woodland and wasteland not actually under 
cultivation or used for pasture or grazing, provided it 
was part of the farm operator’s total operation. Large 
acreages of woodland or wasteland held for 
nonagricultural purposes were removed from 
individual reports during the data review process. 
Land in farms includes idle cropland, cropland not 
harvested, and land in government conservation 
programs. 
Land in farms is an operating unit concept and 
includes 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, except 
land used under government permits on a per-head 
basis (AUM), was included as land in farms 
provided it was part of a farm or ranch. All land in 
American Indian reservations used for growing crops 
or grazing livestock was included as land in farms. 
Land in reservations not reported by 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. 
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 during the 
survey year, regardless of who received the payment. 
Appendix B B - 5 
