horticulture report form and the U.S. floriculture 
report form were exactly the same with the exception 
that they were printed in different colors to 
differentiate between horticulture operations (green 
forms) and floriculture operations (yellow forms). 
The Hawaii horticulture report form content was 
unique. All of the report forms allowed respondents 
to write in specific commodities that were not listed 
on their form. 
Additionally, information was obtained for area in 
production for several types of crops; marketing 
channels; estimated value of land, buildings, 
machinery, and equipment; production expenses; and 
the number of hired workers employed by the 
operation in 2014. See Appendix B for facsimiles of 
the report form and instruction sheet. 
Report Form Mailings 
NASS’s North Carolina Print Mail Center (PMC) 
began pre-notification by postcard on December 1, 
2014. The 2014 CHS report form was mailed from 
the Census Bureau’s National Processing Center 
(NPC) at Jeffersonville, Indiana on December 15, 
2014. Each operation selected for the census was 
mailed a packet that contained a cover letter, an EDR 
instruction letter, a report form instruction sheet, a 
labeled report form, and a return envelope addressed 
to either NPC or NOD for data capture. The report 
form carried a return due date of February 5, 2015. 
NPC was contracted to perform mail packet 
preparation, initial mailout, and follow-up mailing to 
nonrespondents. 
The follow-up mailing took place from NPC on 
February 19, 2015. 
Personal Follow-up 
Telephone follow-up interviews to non-respondents 
took place from March 2 to July 10, 2015 from a 
NASS Data Collection Center. 
Data collection for the 2014 CHS was coordinated 
with other NASS surveys. In some cases, if a 
horticultural operation was also selected for a 
survey, NPC mailed the 2014 CHS materials to 
NASS Regional/Field Offices. Office personnel were 
responsible for collecting the horticulture data and 
completing other survey report forms in the most 
A - 2 Appendix A 
efficient way to reduce the number of contacts and 
minimize respondent burden. 
REPORT FORM PROCESSING 
Data Capture 
NPC received and processed returned mail packets 
for the U.S. horticulture and floriculture report forms 
(14-A0624 and 14-A0625). NASS staff on site at 
NPC provided technical guidance and monitored 
NPC processing activities. All report forms returned 
to NPC were immediately checked in, using bar 
codes printed on the mailing label, and removed 
from follow-up report form mailings. All forms with 
any data were scanned and an image was made of 
each page of a report form. Optical Mark 
Recognition (OMR) was used to capture categorical 
responses and to identify the other answer zones in 
which some type of mark was present. 
All forms were reviewed prior to data keying to 
identify inconsistencies and ensure the data could be 
keyed. Major inconsistencies, respondent remarks, 
and blank forms were reviewed by analysts and 
adjusted prior to keying. In some cases, report forms 
were mailed to regional field offices for further 
editing. All forms with any data were scanned and an 
image was created for each page of the report form. 
Data entry operators keyed data from the scanned 
images using OMR results that highlighted the areas 
of the report forms with respondent entries. The 
keyer evaluated the contents and captured pertinent 
responses. Ten percent of the captured data were 
keyed a second time for quality control. If 
differences existed between the first keyed value and 
the second, an adjudicator handled resolution. The 
decision of the adjudicator was used to grade the 
performance of the keyers, who were required to 
maintain a certain accuracy level. 
The images and the captured data were transferred to 
NASS’s centralized network and became available to 
regional field offices and headquarters on a flow 
basis. The images were available for use in all stages 
of review. Images were computer generated for 
reports obtained from the telephone interviews and 
the Internet. 
The NOD processed returned mail packets for all of 
2012 Census of Agriculture 
USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service 
