Census of Agriculture Content Test

DRAFT

FORM 15‑A01(I) U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS SERVICE

For additional help, call 1-888-424-7828

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INSTRUCTION SHEET

UNITED STATES CENSUS OF AGRICULTURE

2015 CONTENT TEST

Your report is due February X, 2016

Who Should Report?

A reply is needed from EVERYONE who receives a report form, including persons who operated a farm, ranch or other agricultural operation in 2015 as well as those who were not involved in agriculture. More census information is on the Internet at www.agcensus.usda.gov

If you do not return your report form, you will continue to receive contacts from us.

If you were a landlord only and rented out all of your land, complete the front page, Sections 1 and 37 of the enclosed report form and return it in the preaddressed envelope. If you were a landlord but still operated other land yourself, you should complete the entire report form for that land which you operated.

If you had no land, no livestock, and no agricultural operations, return the report form with a note indicating your status on the front of the form below the address label.

Partial Year Operations - If you stopped farming during 2015, complete the report form for the portion of the year that you did farm. Write “Stopped farming during 2015” and the date you stopped farming below the address area. Mail the completed report form in the return envelope. If the person whose name is on the label was deceased during 2015, complete the form for the portion of the year that was farmed, and write a note.

Involved In More Than One Operation - If you made decisions for more than one operation, you may have received a report form for each operation. Provide information for each operation on a separate form. To obtain additional report forms, or if you have questions, please call the toll-free help line at 1-888-424-7828.

Partnership Operation - Complete only ONE form for the entire partnership's agricultural operation and include the entire operation that one form. If you made day-to-day decisions for more than one partnership operation, complete a report form for each separate operation. We have listed all known partners below the address area to assist in defining the operation. Make any necessary corrections to these names.

If you owned farm or ranch land in 2015 that was idle and NOT rented out, you should complete and return the report form.

Specialty Commodities - Horses, bees, elk, emus, fish, nursery, etc., are an important part of the agriculture industry. Report for all commodities, regardless of the amount of production or sales you had in 2015.

Land in Federal conservation programs in 2015 - If you had land in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP), Farmable Wetlands Program (FWP), or Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) and you made the decisions on the acres, include the conservation land on the report form in Sections 1, 2, and 6.

Received More Than One Report Form For the Same Operation - If you received more than one report form for the same operation, complete only ONE form per operation. Write "Duplicate" below the address area of each extra form. Return all forms in the same return envelope with your completed form so that we can correct our records.

Entering Your Responses ‑ Use BLUE or BLACK INK only. Enter your replies in the unit requested, i.e., dollars, bushels, tons, etc. When reporting dollars, report in whole dollars only. Convert fractions to decimals. Please print clearly and keep numbers and letters within the white boxes. Mark all applicable Yes/No and None boxes with an “X”.

Section 1 - Acreage in 2015

Your answers in this section will determine the land (Acres in “THIS OPERATION”) referred to throughout the report form. Include land associated with your agricultural operation in 2015, whether in production or not. Include all land that you owned or rented during 2015, even if only for part of the year. Exclude residential or commercial land. Report land in whole acres.

Item 1 (Box A) ‑ Report all land owned in 2015 whether held under deed, purchase contract or mortgage, homestead law, or as heir/heiress or trustee of an undivided estate. Include all land owned by you and/or your spouse, or by the partnership, corporation, or organization named on the front of the report form.

Item 2 (Box B) ‑ Report all land rented or leased by you or your operation. Exclude land used under Government grazing permits or on a per head or animal unit (AUM) basis. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Section 15 land leased by your operation with a specified acreage tract should be included here even though your fees to BLM are paid on an AUM basis.

Item 3 (Box C) ‑ Include all land rented out for any purpose if it was part of the acreage reported in Items 1 and 2. Your tenant(s) will receive a form to report production for the land they rent. Do not report land placed in conservation programs as acres rented to others.

Item 3a - Report all land owned by the operation and rented or leased to others.

Item 4 (Box D) ‑ This is all land you operated at any time in 2015. Land use in Section 2 should be reported for these acres.

Item 7 Total acres equals zero (0) - After completing Section 1, if the acres in Item 4, BOX D equals zero and you did not raise or own any livestock, aquaculture, or poultry in 2015, write a description of land use in the space by question 7. Complete Section 34 and mail the report form in the return envelope.

Section 2 - Land

The total (Item 5) of the acres from Items 1 - 4 entered in BOX E should equal the total acres in Section 1, Item 4, BOX D. These acres represent “this operation” for this census report. If these two numbers are not the same, please GO BACK and CORRECT your figures. Do not report any crops grown on land rented or leased to others or worked by others on shares during 2015.

Land used for more than one purpose - Do not report the same acreage in more than one of the listed categories. If part or all of your land was used for more than one listed purpose in 2015, report that land only in the first purpose listed. For example, if you planted and harvested a grain crop and grazed the crop residue in the fall, report the land in Item 1a, cropland harvested. Do not report those acres again in Item 2c pasture or grazing land.

CRP/WRP and other conservation programs - Report these acres in the Items in this section that best describe them. For example, CRP land may be reported in cropland harvested, cropland idle, or woodland not pastured depending on its use.

Item 1a - Land maintained for orchards or vineyards should be recorded even if the crop failed, or the trees or vines are not of bearing age. Abandoned acres of orchards or vineyards should be reported in Item 1d. Harvested cropland includes trees for fruit, nuts, and berries along with Christmas trees and short rotation woody crops. Do not include the area harvested for timber or firewood. If more than one crop was harvested from the same land in 2015, report that land as cropland harvested only once.

Item 1b - Include land you intended to harvest but were forced to abandon or had the crop fail.

Item 1c - Include cropland left unseeded for the 2015 harvest and summer fallowed, cultivated by tillage, or treated with herbicides to control weeds and conserve moisture. Include cropland summer fallowed in 2015 even though it may have been planted to wheat, etc., for the 2014 harvest.

Section 3‑ Land Use Practices

Items 1b - Land drained by ditches refers only to manmade ditches installed to improve drainage, not natural waterways. Item 1c - A conservation easement limits the right to develop the land, now and in the future.

Items 1d through g - Include all cropland acres planted in the operation with the practice, not just cropland harvested. Conservation tillage leaves 30 percent or more of the soil surface covered by crop residue after planting. Conventional tillage has 100 percent of the soil surface mixed or inverted.

Section 4 – GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS

For conservation program cost shares, include the government’s share of the amount paid. Exclude any payments from loans or programs that must be repaid.

Item 2 - Report all acres covered by any crop insurance policy in 2015. Include land in pasture insurance programs and acres covered by guaranteed revenue policies.

Item 7 - Report amount received for commodities placed under CCC loan during 2015. Include amount received even if commodity was redeemed or forfeited prior to December 31, 2015. Exclude CCC loans to build crop storage facilities.

Item 8 - Report total amount repaid in 2015, regardless of the crop year the loan was made.

Section 5 - Type of Organization

Use the following definitions to determine the type of organization for this operation.

An operation organized as a Limited Liability Company (LLC) may fall into any of the categories.

Family or individual operation ‑ Farm or business organization controlled and operated by a family or an individual (sole proprietor). Include family operations that are not incorporated and not operated under a partnership agreement. Report family corporations under “Incorporated under state law.”

Partnership operation ‑ Two or more persons who conduct an operation together and share work and profits. Co‑ownership of land by husband and wife or joint filing of income tax forms by husband and wife does not constitute a partnership unless a specific agreement to share contributions, decision making, profits, and liabilities exists. Production under contract or under a share rental agreement does not constitute a partnership.

Incorporated under state law ‑ A corporation is a legal entity or artificial person created under the laws of a State to carry on a business, including family corporations. Exclude cooperatives, even if they are incorporated.

Other ‑ Estate or trust, grazing association, American Indian Reservation, university farm, prison farm, institution run by a government or religious entity, cooperatives (an incorporated or unincorporated enterprise or an association created and formed jointly by the members), etc.

Section 6 - PERSONAL Characteristics

This section collects information about the operator(s) of this operation. A farm may be a family operation and still have multiple operators. Complete one column for each operator, listing the principal operator or senior partner in the first column. The principal operator is the person in charge, such as a hired manager, business manager, or other person primarily responsible for the on‑site, day‑to‑day operation of the farm or ranch business.

Item 1 - Enter the total number of people who made day-to-day decisions for this operation, and the number of women operators. Do not report as operators minor-aged children who only worked on the farm.

Item 2 - Answer each question for up to three operators. If there were more than three, answer for three operators only.

Item 2d ‑ The principal occupation of the operator(s) is the occupation at which an operator spent the majority of his/her worktime. If the operator spent the majority working for another agricultural operation for wages, it is considered hours devoted to “Other.”

Item 2h ‑ Report the first year the specified operator began to operate any part of this operation on a continuous basis. If the operator returned to a place previously operated, report the year operations were resumed.

Item 2i ‑ Report the first year the specified operator began to operate part of ANY operation on a continuous basis.

Item 3 ‑ The number of households that share in the net farm income are those households involved with the day-to-day decisions and not those households that received funds because they are landlords, custom equipment operators, or provide other supplies that are listed in Section 25, Production Expenses. Your answer should not exceed the number of operators listed in Item 1.

Item 4 - If net income from the farm or ranch operation was negative in 2015, report zero as the percent of income from the operation.

Item 5 - Include internet access on the operation, or on equipment owned by the operation. Do not include access from a computer at a public site such as a library

Reporting value of sales

Report the value of all crops and livestock sold from this operation in 2015 in the appropriate commodity section. Report the sales in 2015 regardless of the year crops were harvested or raised. Include the value of your landlord’s share of the commodities harvested. Report commodities as sold that you owned and moved to someone else’s operation for further feeding, such as cattle. Report the gross value before the deduction of expenses, fees, or income taxes. Include payments received in 2015 from cooperatives or marketing organizations for crops produced on this operation regardless of the year in which the crops were harvested. Also, include as sales your estimate of the value of any crop or livestock removed from this operation in trade of services, such as baled hay for labor or other services. Report the total value you received for animals and poultry sold from this operation in 2015, without deducting production or marketing expenses (cost of feed, cost of livestock purchased, cost of hauling and selling, etc).

Do NOT include:

• Proceeds from CCC loans or other government payments.

• The value of sales of any cattle, hogs, or poultry owned by you but kept and sold from a location you did not operate.

• The value of commodities grown under a production contract.

Section 7 - Field Crops

Acres harvested ‑ Enter the acres harvested in 2015. Round fractions to whole acres except for tobacco, where tenths should be reported.

Total quantity harvested ‑ If your unit of measure is different than the unit requested on the report form, convert your figure for the quantity harvested to the unit requested. If the harvest was incomplete by December 31, 2015, estimate the total quantity to be harvested.

Acres irrigated - Report the irrigated harvested acres only once, even if the crop was irrigated multiple times during the growing season.

Double cropping ‑ If two or more crops were harvested from the same land (double cropping), report the total acres and production of each harvested crop.

Interplanted crops ‑ If two crops were grown at the same time in alternating strips in the same field, report the acreage of the field used for each crop.

Skip row planting ‑ If a crop was planted in an alternating pattern of planted and non‑planted rows, such as two rows planted and two rows skipped, report the acreage occupied by the crop and report the skipped portion as cropland idle in Section 2, Item 1d.

If you rented land under a share arrangement, include your landlord’s share of the crop in value of sales.

Section 8 - Hay and Forage Crops

Include hay and forage from alfalfa, wild or native grasses, small grains, soybeans, and peanuts. Report production in tons. Any pasture or conservation land that had hay cut from it should be reported as cropland harvested in Section 2, Item 1a.

Section 9 - Cut Christmas Trees, Short Rotation Woody Crops and Maple Syrup

Item 2 - Acres in production of cut Christmas trees include both those to be harvested in future years as well as those harvested in 2015. Trees cut should include only those trees cut in 2015.

Item 3 - A short rotation woody crop is a tree that is harvested in 10 years or less. These are trees for use by the paper or pulp industry or as engineered wood. Exclude trees cut for timber. Acres harvested in 2015 should be reported as having been both in production and harvested. Acres not harvested in 2015 should be reported as acres in production but not as acres harvested.

Item 4 - Producers should report number of taps and gallons of syrup. If sap was sold, estimate the number of gallons of syrup it would have produced. Report the acres of tapped maple trees in Section 2, Item 3, woodland not pastured.

Section 10 - Nursery, Greenhouse, Floriculture, Sod, Mushrooms, Vegetable Seeds, and Propagative Materials

Report Christmas trees grown on this operation and sold live as nursery stock, code 0488. Exclude crops bought for resale without additional growing, and garden center items, such as chemicals and fertilizers. Report all acres of Christmas trees in production for cut Christmas trees and the number cut in 2015 in Section 8, Item 2.

Section 11 - Vegetables, Potatoes, and Melons

Item 3 - Report acres harvested for individual crops. If the same crop was planted more than once during the year on the same field, report the sum of the acres harvested during 2015. For example, if 4 acres were planted to lettuce and harvested, then replanted to lettuce and harvested, report 8 acres of lettuce in Item 3 but only 4 acres in Item 2.

Section 12 - Fruit and Nuts

Report fruit and nut trees only if there was a combined total of 20 or more trees and vines, whose production was for sale. Exclude abandoned acres of orchards or vineyards that should be reported in Section 2, Item 1d. Bearing age acres are the acres of trees or vines that produced any fruit or nut crop in 2015 or previous years. If fruit and nut trees and vines were interplanted with other crops, report only the total acres for the orchard in Section 11, and the total acres of each interplanted crop in their appropriate section(s).

Section 13 - Berries

Item 2 - Report all acres on which berries were grown in 2015 for harvest in 2015 or later years. Do not include abandoned acres or acres harvested for home use.

Sections 14, 15, and 19 - Cattle and Calves, Hogs and Pigs, and poultry

Include all animals on this operation on December 31, 2015 owned by you, raised by you under contract, or kept by you for others. Include animals on unfenced lands, National Forest land, Indian Reservation Land, cooperative grazing association land, or rangeland administered by the Bureau of Land Management on a per head, animal unit month (AUM), or lease basis. Animals in transit on December 31, 2015, should be reported by the person who had control of the animals on that day. Report beefalo as cattle in Section 13. Report buffalo as bison in Section 20.

Contract and custom feeding operations - Report numbers of all animals or poultry on this operation on December 31, 2015. Animals and poultry kept on a contract or custom basis and moved or sold from this operation in 2015 should be reported as sold. In addition, report in Section 21- Production Contracts and Custom Feeding on the appropriate line the quantity delivered of custom fed livestock or production contract livestock and poultry and the dollar amount received from the contractor in Section 21. Do NOT include fees received for commodities produced under production contract in the value of sales in Sections 6 - 20.

Cattle, hogs, and poultry to exclude from the report form ‑ Exclude animals or poultry kept on land rented to others or kept under a share arrangement on land rented to others. Exclude animals quartered in feedlots that were not located on this operation. Do not report the sales of animals bought and then resold within 30 days. Such purchases and sales are considered dealer transactions.

Number sold ‑ Report all animals and poultry sold or moved from this operation in 2015, without regard to ownership or who shared in the receipts. Include animals sold for a landlord or given to a landlord or others in trade or in payment for goods or services. Do not report number sold of any hogs and pigs, cattle and calves, or poultry owned by you that were kept and sold from a location that you did not operate.

Number moved from this operation ‑ For animals and poultry moved from this operation to another, such as for further feeding, report them as “sold.” Cattle moved are not considered sold if they were moved to another operation for a short term, such as winter wheat or corn stubble grazing, or during the winter to public grazing land.

Cattle in feedlots ‑ Do NOT include in cattle in feedlots:

• Cattle and calves sold or moved off the operation for further feeding

• Veal calves or any calves weighing less than 500 pounds

• Cull or dairy cows fed only the usual dairy ration before being sold

Section 16 - Equine

Exclude horses owned by this operation but stabled elsewhere.

Mules, burros and donkeys on this operation should be reported regardless of ownership. Exclude feral equine.

Section 17 - Sheep and Goats

Item 2 - Include ewes in both Item 2.a. and Item 2.a.i. Report goats based on utilization regardless of breed. Report pounds of wool shorn and mohair clipped in 2015 only.

Section 18 - Aquaculture

Include all sizes for each type. On a separate line, specify the sale of fish eggs, fry, or fingerlings for each type. Convert units such as bushels, bags, or gallons to number or pounds. Report the same production as either pounds or number.

Section 20 - Colonies of Bees

Item 2 - Report the number of bee colonies owned regardless of location. Report the pounds of honey collected in 2015 whether sold or not sold. Report package bees and other bees such as leaf cutter bees, and the sale of complete bee colonies, in Section 20, Item 3. Report beeswax and pollen in Section 20, Item 4. Report pollination fees in Section 22, Item 7.

Section 21 - Other Livestock and Livestock Products

Items 2f, 2g - Mink and Rabbits – Report the sales of only live animals.

Item 4 - Include pelts and any meat from mink and rabbits.

Section 22 - Organic Agriculture

This section is for production under the National Organic Program standards. Farms that are USDA certified organic, or exempt from certification because they sell less than $5,000 in organic products a year, should report in this section. Farms in the three year transition period should report in Items 1and 2.

Item 3 - Total sales of organic products include all sales of the products, regardless of whether an organic premium was obtained. Sales of products from transitioning land or livestock should not be included in Item 3. Include gross value of agricultural production before expenses or taxes. Exclude the value of processed or value added items.

Section 23 - Production Contracts and Custom Feeding

A production contract is an agreement between a grower and contractor (integrator) that specifies that the grower will raise an agricultural commodity and that the contractor will provide certain inputs such as seed, livestock, etc. The grower receives a payment or fee from the contractor, generally after delivery, which is less than the full market price of the commodity.

The grower should report amount of the specified commodity that you raised and delivered under production contracts in Items 2A - L. If you had multiple contracts to produce different commodities, report the appropriate amount of each commodity produced under each contract in the proper categories. Exclude marketing contracts, futures contracts, forward contracts, or other contracts based strictly on price. The contractor should not report commodities that were produced by the grower.

Section 24 - Practices

Item 1b - Rotational grazing is the practice of subdividing pasture into smaller sections and grazing different sections at different times. Items 1b - Land drained by ditches refers only to manmade ditches installed to improve drainage, not natural waterways. Item 1c - A conservation easement limits the right to develop the land, now and in the future.

Items 1d through g - Include all cropland acres planted in the operation with the practice, not just cropland harvested. Conservation tillage leaves 30 percent or more of the soil surface covered by crop residue after planting. Conventional tillage has 100 percent of the soil surface mixed or inverted.

Section 25‑ MARKETING PRACTICES

Include only those commodities sold directly for human consumption, such as vegetables, fruit, eggs, milk, cattle, chickens, hogs, turkeys, etc. Report only commodities grown or raised on this operation. Exclude crops, livestock, poultry, or other products that you bought and resold within 30 days. Exclude craft items such as birdhouses, woodwork, etc.

Section 26 - Fertilizers and Chemicals Applied

Fertilizer - Report acres on this operation on which commercial fertilizer was applied during 2015 only once, even if multiple applications were made. Report fertilizer and manure expenditures in Section 25, Item 1.

Chemicals - Include acres on which custom application of chemicals was made. If multiple applications of chemicals for the same purpose (for example, herbicides) were made on the same acres, report the acreage only once. If chemicals were applied for different purposes, report the acres for each purpose that the chemicals were used. Report agricultural chemical expenditures in Section 25, Item 2. Estimate the acreage for spot treatments.

Section 27 - Energy

Item 3 - Include any wind rights leased to others on land owned by this operation.

Section 28 - Market Value of Land, Buildings, Machinery, and Equipment

Item 1 - Estimate the value of the land, houses, barns, and other buildings for each of the three listed categories if they were sold in the current market. The real estate tax assessment value should not be used unless that value represents a full market value assessment and the land, house, and buildings could reasonably be assumed to be sold at that price. Do not deduct real estate marketing charges from your estimate. Report the total value, not the value on a per acre basis.

Item 2 - The estimated market value refers to all machinery and equipment kept primarily on this operation and used for the farm business. Report the value in its present condition, not the replacement or depreciated value. Include mobile implements, hand tools, and office supplies. Permanently installed equipment or equipment that is an integral part of a building should be included as a part of the value of land and buildings and reported in Item 1.

Section 29 - Machinery and Equipment

Report the total on this operation, or normally on this operation and normally used on this operation, in the first column. Do not report obsolete or abandoned equipment. In the second column, report only the number manufactured in the last five years.

Section 30 - Income From Farm-Related Sources

Report gross amounts received before taxes and expenses.

Item 2 - Exclude rental income from nonfarm property.

Item 3 ‑ Include only those forest products cut from this operation, not items cut from other nonfarm timber acreage. Exclude income from a sawmill business. Report sales of Christmas trees, maple syrup or sap products in Section 8.

Item 7 - Include pollination fees.

Section 31 - Farm Labor

Report the number of paid farm or ranch workers who performed agricultural labor on this operation in 2015. Include paid family members. Include workers such as hired bookkeepers, office workers, maintenance workers, etc., if their work was primarily associated with agricultural production on this operation.

Item 1 - Include any short term or temporary workers who may have worked only a few days. Exclude contract labor.

Section 32 - Production Expenses

Include farm production expenses paid by you or your landlord(s) for crops, livestock, or poultry produced on this operation in 2015 in Items 1 through 15. Include expenses associated with the generation of farm-related income reported in Section 22. Include expenses incurred in 2015 even if they were not paid in 2015. Estimate if exact figures are not known.

Contract growers or custom feeders - Do not report as production expenses the value of inputs provided by the contractor or livestock owner. Identify the items that were contractor provided in Section 21, Item 3.

Item 2 ‑ Include surfactants and oils and other products used to increase a chemical’s effectiveness.

Item 6 ‑ Report the purchase cost of all grains, silage, hay, commercially mixed and premixed feeds, ingredients, concentrates, etc., fed to livestock or poultry on this operation. Contract livestock and poultry growers should not report the value of feed that was provided by a contractor. Do not report the value of feed raised and fed on this operation as an expense.

Item 9 ‑ Include the cost of repairs and upkeep of farm machinery, vehicles, buildings, fences, and other equipment used in the farm business. Include expenses for repairs to machinery and equipment used only for custom work if income from those machines is reported in Section 22. Exclude repairs to vehicles not used in the farm business. Exclude expenditures for the construction of new buildings or the cost of additions to existing buildings.

Item 10a ‑ Include labor expense for the farm business for gross salaries and wages, commissions, dismissal pay, vacation pay, and bonuses paid to hired workers, family members, hired managers, administrative and clerical employees, and salaried corporate officers. Include cost for benefits such as employer's social security contributions, unemployment compensation, worker's compensation insurance, employer paid life and medical insurance expense, pension plans, etc.

Item 10b ‑ Include the labor costs of workers furnished on a contract basis by labor contractor, crew leader, or cooperative for harvesting vegetables or fruit, shearing sheep, or similar farm activities. Report costs for repair work done by a construction contractor in Item 9. Report the cost of customwork or machine hire in Item 11.

Item 12a ‑ Exclude rent paid for operator dwelling or other nonfarm property. Exclude the value of shares of crops or livestock paid to landlords.

Item 13 ‑ Report all interest expenses paid in 2015 for the farm business. Include interest paid on CCC loans in Item 13b. Exclude interest associated with activities not related to production of crops or livestock on this operation, such as land or buildings rented to others, packing sheds, or feed mills that provided services to others. Exclude interest on owner/operator dwelling where the amount is separated from the interest on the land and buildings on this operation.

Item 14 ‑ Include real estate property taxes you paid on the acres and buildings you owned and used in the farm business and property taxes on equipment or livestock. Exclude property taxes on land or buildings rented to someone else, or property taxes paid on other property not associated with the farm business.

Section 33 - Agricultural Activity Within the Borders of American Indian Reservations, Pueblos, and Service Areas

Complete this section if any of your cropland or livestock was on an American Indian Reservation, Pueblo, or service area in 2015. Include trust acres used, as well as deeded land or land leased from others that was on the Reservation.

Section 34 - Conclusion

Item 1 - If your operation might be identified under a different name than printed on the front of the form (for example, a farm name or another partner), please provide these names.

Item 2a - All farms and ranches should receive their own forms to complete. If you operated another farm or ranch, indicate whether you received a form for that operation.