2017 Census of Agriculture

FORM 17‑A200(I) U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS SERVICE

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

Para ayuda adicional, llamar al 1-888-424-7828

INSTRUCTION BOOKLET

2017 UNITED STATES CENSUS OF AGRICULTURE

Your report is due February 5, 2018

Who Should Report?

A reply is required from EVERYONE who receives a report form, including persons who operated a farm, ranch or other agricultural operation in 2017, anyone who has agricultural activity 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, Section 1, and Section 22 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 2017, complete the report form for the portion of the year that you did farm. Write “Stopped farming during 2017” 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 2017, 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 on 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 2017 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 2017.

Land in Federal conservation programs in 2017 - 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 4.

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 2017

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 activity in 2017, whether in production or not. Include all land that you owned or rented during 2017, 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 2017 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 from others 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 2a-c – Report all land rented or leased from others for a cash payment, for a share of the crop or livestock production, or for free in the appropriate categories.

Item 3 (Box C) ‑ Include all land rented out to others 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 2017. Land use in Section 2 should be reported for these acres. Item 5 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 2017, write a description of land use in the space by question 5. Complete Section 22 and mail the report form in the return envelope.

Section 2 - Land USE in 2017

The total 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 2017.

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 2017, 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 2017, report that land as cropland harvested only once.

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

Item 1c - Include cropland left unseeded for the 2017 harvest and summer fallowed, cultivated by tillage, or treated with herbicides to control weeds and conserve moisture. Include cropland summer fallowed in 2017 even though it may have been planted to wheat, etc., for the 2016 harvest.

Section 3‑ Land rented or leased from others for cash

Include all acres rented from others on a cash basis. If you rent a whole farm from someone else that includes dwellings and buildings, exclude the whole farm acres from this section.

Section 4‑ Land Use Practices

Item 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.

Items 2a through c - Include all cropland, pasture, and rangeland rented from others on a cash basis.

Items 3a and 3b - Include acres irrigated by all methods and from all water sources including those irrigated from lagoons through a sprinkler or flood system.

Section 5 – crop insurance and government programs

Item 1 - Report all acres covered by any crop insurance policy in 2017. Include land in pasture insurance programs and acres covered by guaranteed revenue policies.

Items 2a & 3 - For conservation program cost shares, include the government’s share of the amount paid.

Items 3 & 4 – Exclude any payments from loans or programs that must be repaid.

Item 5 - Report amount received for commodities placed under CCC loan during 2017. Include amount received even if commodity was redeemed or forfeited prior to December 31, 2017. Exclude CCC loans to build crop storage facilities.

Item 6 - Report total amount repaid in 2017, regardless of the crop year the loan was made.

Section 6 - 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.

Reporting value of sales

Report the value of all crops and livestock sold from this operation in 2017 in the appropriate commodity section. Report the sales in 2017 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, marketing charges, hauling fees, other fees, or income taxes. Include payments received in 2017 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 2017, without deducting production or marketing expenses (cost of feed, cost of livestock purchased, cost of hauling and selling, etc).

Exclude:

• 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 2017. 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, 2017, 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 or in bales/weight per bale. Any pasture or conservation land that had hay cut from it should be reported as cropland harvested in Section 2, Item 1a.

section 9 - 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 10 - Cattle and Calves

Include all animals on this operation on December 31, 2017 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, 2017, should be reported by the person who had control of the animals on that day. Report beefalo and cattalo as cattle in Section 10. Report buffalo in Section 12, item 4c.

Contract and custom feeding operations - Report numbers of all animals or poultry on this operation on December 31, 2017. Animals and poultry kept on a contract or custom basis and moved or sold from this operation in 2017 should be reported as sold.

Cattle 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 2017, 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 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 11 - Other crop and livestock commodities

Item 1 – Include any crop that was grown or harvested in 2017 that was not previously reported.

Item 3 – Include honey bees owned regardless of location. Report pollination fees in Section 17, item 7.

Item 4 – Include any sheep, lambs, goats, or kids owned or fed by the operation in 2017, regardless of location.

Item 5 – Include any livestock species or livestock products on the operation in 2017 that was not previously reported.

Section 12‑ food marketing practices

Include only edible 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 nonedible craft items like birdhouses, woodwork, etc.

Section 13 - Fertilizers, Chemicals, and soil conditioners Applied

Fertilizer - Report acres on this operation on which commercial fertilizer was applied during 2017 only once, even if multiple applications were made. Report fertilizer and manure expenditures in Section 17, 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 17, Item 2. Estimate the acreage for spot treatments.

Section 14 - 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 15 - Practices

Item 1 - This item 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. Include farms in the three year transition period.

Item 3 - 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. Include any short term or temporary workers who may have worked only a few days. Exclude contract labor.

Item 4b - Rotational grazing is the practice of subdividing pasture into smaller sections and grazing different sections at different times.

Item 5 - 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.

Section 16 - Farm Labor

Report the number of paid farm or ranch workers who performed agricultural labor on this operation in 2017. 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 17 - Production Expenses

Include farm production expenses paid by you or your landlord(s) for crops, livestock, or poultry produced on this operation in 2017 in Items 1 through 16. Include expenses associated with the generation of farm-related income reported in Section 18. Include expenses incurred in 2017 even if they were not paid in 2017. 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.

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 18. 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 2017 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 18 - 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 19 - 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.

Item 7 - Include pollination fees.

Section 20 - PERSONAL Characteristics

This section collects information about decision makers of this operation. A farm may be a family operation and still have multiple operators. Complete one column for each operator.

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

Item 3 - Answer each question for up to four operators. If there were more than four, answer for four operators only.

Item 3g ‑ Report where the operator(s) spent the majority of his/her worktime.

Item 3k ‑ 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 3l ‑ Report the first year the specified operator began to operate part of ANY operation on a continuous basis.

Item 3p - If net income from the farm or ranch operation was negative in 2017, report zero as the percent of income from the operation.

Item 5 - 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 7 ‑ 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 18, Production Expenses. Your answer should not exceed the number of operators listed in Item 1.

Item 8 - 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.

Section 21 - 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 2017. Include trust acres used, as well as deeded land or land leased from others that was on the Reservation.

Section 22 - 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.