United States yearbook - 1982 (1)

6 4 8 Agriculture
Curtently included as farms are such diverse enterprises as nurseries, greenhouses, sod farms,
mushroom operations, cranberry bogs, feedlots, fish .farms, and hatcheries; exoluded are business
enterprises exclusively engaged in forest production and in production of fish, oysters, fowl, etc,,
from the ocean, game preserves, parks, and the like, when not grown in captivity. In the case of
landowners who had one or more tenants, or renters, the land operated by each was counted as a
separate farm.
Farmland refers to all land under the control of a farm operator and considered as part of his
farm, Including land not actually under cultivation or not used for pasture or grazing. Rent-free land
was included as part of the farm only if the operator had sole use of it. Land used for pasture or
grazing on a per head basis that was neither owned nor leased by the farm operator is not included
except for grazing lands controlled by grazing associations leased on a per acre basis.
State totals for 1976 are not directly comparable with totals for 1974 or earlier censuses because
of changes in the procedures of collecting data. For details, see 1978 census reports. Coverage
estimates for 1978 indicate about 3.4 percent of all farms were not included in census totals. Coverage
evaluation studies for the 1974 census indicated that 10.7 percent of all farms were not included
in the census. Farms missed in the census were usually small and accounted for less than
2 percent of the total value of agricultural products sold and less than 2 percent of the land in
farms. The proportion of farms missed in the 1974 census was generally higher in States having a
large proportion of small farms and urbanized areas having a sizable number of part-time farms.
For more explanation about data comparability, see Appendixes A and C, Census o f A griculture:
1978, volume I reports.
Farm population.—Farm population consists of all persons living on farms in rural areas. Data
prior to 1960 are based on self-identification by respondents as to whether they live on a farm, and
are not based on any criterion for the definition of a farm. Except as noted, farm population data
shown for 1960 to 1976 are based on the definition of a farm used for the 1969 Census of Agriculture.
Farm population data for 1977 to 1981 are shown on the bases of both the 1969 and 1974
census farm definitions and are so indicated.
Irrigation,—Irrigated land is defined by the Bureau of the Census as the acreage in farms to
which water is artificially applied during the census year. In addition to collecting information on
irrigation from Individual farms in the census of agriculture, the Bureau of the Census collects data
on the operation of irrigation water supply organizations at 10-year intervals. In 1978, irrigation information
was collected irom both individual farms and irrigation organizations.
Farm in co m e .— Cash income comprises cash receipts from farm m arketings and Federal payments
made directly to farmers for farm related activities. Farm m arketings represent agricultural
products sold by farmers multiplied by prices received per unit of production at th e local market.
Gross farm income includes cash income, value of farm products consumed in farm homes, rental
value of farm homes, etc.
Information on prices received for farm products is generally obtained by the SRS Crop Reporting
Board from surveys of firms (such as grain elevators, packers, and processors) purchasing agricultural
commodities direct from producers. In some cases, the price information is obtained directly
from the producers. Season average prices received by farmers are calculated by weighting monthly
prices by monthly sales during the crop marketing season, beginning with the first month in which
a particular crop harvest begins.
Crops.— Estimates of crop acreage and production by the SRS are based on current sample
survey data obtained from Individual reporters and objective yield counts which are supplemented
by State assessors’ enumerations of agricultural Information, reports of carlot shipments, market
records, personal field observations by field statisticians, and reports from other sources. Cotton
acreage and production are based on sample survey data and on ginning information gathered by
the Bureau of the Census.
Price supports.—Under law, farm incomes are supported through two basic Government-supported
mechanisms available to producers of eligible commodities: (1) a m arket p ric e support (loan
rate) through which producers may place any portion of their production in approved storage and
receive a loan at a specified rate. The farmer may repay the loan with interest and retain the commodity
or, at the end of the loan period (currently nine months), forfeit the commodity as full payment
of the loan; (2) a farm income support (target price) whose payments vary inversely with the
market price of the specified commodity. “ Deficiency payments” are made when market prices for
a specified period are below the target prices. The payment rate is the difference between the
target price and market price, or between the target price and loan rate, whichever is smaller.