Generic Testing - Census of Agriculture

2022 Census of Agriculture

Cognitive Testing

2/4/2020

Interviewer:

POID:

State:

Date:

Type of Farm:

Before we begin, I want to tell you a little more about the project and what we will be doing today. We are in the process of testing the topics and questions that will be included in the 2022 Census of Agriculture. We want to ensure that the Census is easy to complete and therefore we are meeting with operators such as yourself to make sure you are able to understand all the questions and they are easy to answer.

I’m going to ask you to fill out specific sections of the report form. Please assume that you have received the form at the end of the year and all your figures are available. You don’t have to come up with the exact figures, you can estimate or just talk about how you would have come up with an answer and the degree of difficulty involved in providing the information.

You do not have to complete the entire questionnaire. You will notice that certain sections are crossed off. You do not have to complete any of those sections. After you have completed the selected sections, we will go back over the questions you answered. I’m going to ask you some follow-up questions on why you answered the way you did, how you interpreted certain questions and discuss any questions and/or terms that you found confusing or did not understand. This will help us make sure that everyone who receives this form understands the questions. Again, all your answers and everything we discuss today will be kept completely confidential. If you have any difficulty answering a question, circle it and we will discuss it after you have completed the form. Do you have any questions before we start?

Section 1 Acreage in 2020

Were there any questions in Section 1 that you had difficulty answering? What made this question(s) difficult for you?

AUM Land (Questions 2 and 3)

Are you familiar with the term animal unit month (AUM)? What does using land on an AUM basis mean to you?

Did you have any land on fee per-head or AUM?

If yes: Are you renting land from others on an AUM basis or renting land out to others on an AUM basis?

If renting from others on an AUM basis: In general terms, who is being paid for your use of the land (i.e. Government entity, industrial corporation, private land owner, grazing association)? Did you report that land in questions 1-4? If so, please explain why you reported the acres where you did.

If renting to others on an AUM basis: Where did you report this land in Questions 1-4? Can you tell me why you reported those acres where you did? Tell me more about the arrangement? Do you as the owner control the day to day decisions for the land? What control does the person using the land have over the land?

Did you see the include and exclude statements following Questions 2 and 3? If yes, did you read them?

Are you familiar with ACEP (Agricultural Conservation Easement Program)? Do you participate in this program? In which questions would you report land in ACEP?

[Interviewer Observation]: Did the respondent follow the instructions on this page?

Section 2 Land Use in 2020

Were there any questions in Section 2 that you had difficulty answering? What made this question(s) difficult for you?

Did you have any abandoned acres of orchards or vineyards? If yes, did you report them in this section, in which item?

Do you have a home garden? Did you report that land in this section? In which item?

Totals

[Observe] Does the total in Section 1, Box D equal the total in Section 2 Box E?

If not: I noticed your total acres operated in Sections 1 and 2 do not match. Can you walk me through how you determined your answers to these two questions?

Section 4 Land Use Practices (irrigation and precision ag)

Question 3 Precision Agriculture

All: When this question asks about precision agriculture practices, what does that mean to you? Are you familiar with this term, precision agriculture? What types of precision agriculture you familiar with?

If yes to Question 3: What types of precision agriculture practices have you used on your operation? Can you tell me how you use these practices?

If no to Question 3: Have you ever used these types of practices? Do you have any plans to in the future? Can you tell me more about that?

Section 4 continued

Irrigation

Question 4

If no to Question 4: Question 4 asks, during 2020, were there any irrigation systems or irrigation equipment available on this operation. What do you think is meant by irrigation equipment? What do you think is meant by irrigation systems?

Do you have any type of irrigation equipment or systems on your operation, whether in working order or not? This could include sprinklers, ditches or furrows, drip or trickle irrigation, purposeful flooding of fields. Do you or someone else supply water in some way to your crops or pastures?

If no: Can you briefly describe your operation and the weather?

If yes, can you tell me more about this equipment? Why did you answer no to this question? Have you irrigated in previous years? What happened to the irrigation equipment or infrastructure?

Did the respondent skip to Section 5? Yes No

If yes to Question 4: Can you tell me more about the irrigation system or equipment that is available on your operation? What type of irrigation system/equipment is this? Describe how you apply the irrigation or will potentially apply it in the future? Did you use this equipment in 2020? If so, can you tell me how you used this irrigation system in 2020? What did you irrigate? How many acres? Do you own this equipment or does someone else?

(All) Did you see the include and exclude statements below the question? Did you read them before answering? What does water used exclusively for home use mean to you?

Question 4a

How did you arrive at your answer to question 4a?

When this question says “how many acres in your operation have access to irrigation systems or irrigation equipment”, what does “access” mean to you?

How did you decide how many acres had access?

Does this number include all of the acres you actually irrigated this year?

Does it also include all the acres you could and would have irrigated had conditions been different and the crops/pasture land needed the water?

What type of acres did you exclude?

Do you have any land that you included that you thought you could irrigate but never intend to for any reason (financially impossible/impractical or the land being impractical for irrigation use: Homestead, undeveloped land (mountain/extremely rocky))?

Question 4b

How did you arrive at your answer to question 4b?

(if needed) How were these acres irrigated?

(if needed) Did you harvest all the acres reported in 4b? If not, how many acres did you irrigate that were not harvested?

Question 4c

Question 4c asks how many acres of all other land were irrigated. What do you think is meant by “all other land”? What types of land do you think of?

Yes provided positive response: Did you include these in your response?

If answered zero/none: Did you irrigate any pasture land, CRP land, nonharvested land, or failed cropland? If so, how many acres and why did you decide not to include those acres in your response?

(If 4a = 4b + 4c) You indicated you irrigated all of your land that had access to irrigation infrastructure. Did you have any acres in 4a that were not irrigated this year but had been irrigated in the past? Did you have any land you could have irrigated that you could see yourself irrigating if conditions were different?

• If (Yes): Why did you not include them? Did they lose access to infrastructure/equipment?

• If (No): How often do you irrigate everything? Do you sometimes not irrigate everything?

(If 4a < 4b + 4c)You indicated you irrigated more land than you have total land with access to irrigation. Did you consider any acres to fall into both categories (4B & 4C)?

Did you think any acres in 4B or 4C were not to be counted in 4A?

If “Yes”, please explain why?

If “No”, is this a simple mistake? Is there any feedback you could provide to help avoid repeating this mistake?

Question 4d

Can you tell me why you answered this way? What irrigation systems or equipment do you intend to use in the future? When do you intend to use them? What types of crops do you intend to irrigate? How many acres?

If have access to irrigation systems but didn’t irrigate in 2020 and do not intend to irrigate in the future: Why do you not intend to use the irrigation available to you?

If reported irrigation use in 2020 but don’t intend to irrigate in the future: You irrigated this year, but you indicated you do not intend to irrigate anymore. Why don’t you intend to irate in the future?

(all) Do you use irrigation on a need basis in case of droughts only?

Section 5 Crop Insurance, Conservation Reserve Program, and other Government Programs

Verify that all questions in this section were answered. If questions were skipped, ask why did you skip this question? Can you answer it now and tell me how you arrived at your answer?

If positive response to Question 2: Can you tell me how you arrived at your answer to question 2? What programs are these acres enrolled in? How long have you been enrolled in this program? How did you determine how many acres to report?

If blank, zero or none to Question 2: Do you participate in the conservation reserve program, wetlands reserve program, the farmable wetlands program, or conservation reserve enhancement program in 2020? If so, can you tell me more about your participation in this program? What did it entail? How many acres? When were you enrolled in it/are you still enrolled in it? Why didn’t you report those acres that are enrolled in this program here?

Section 9 Cultivated Christmas Trees, Short Rotation Woody Crops – Question 3

Question 3 asks about short rotation woody crops – What do you think of when this says short rotation woody crops?

Do you have these types of crops? Can you describe the types of short rotation woody crops that you produce?

When answering Question 3, did you specify all of the short rotation woody crops that you produced in 2020 in the answer space under the question? If not, why not?

Can you walk me through how you filled out the table? How did you determine how many acres of short rotation woody crops that were in production? What plants did these acres include?

How did you determine how many acres were harvested? Why plants did these acres include?

[Observe] Did the respondent include any nursery stock that should have been reported in section 11? If so, ask: Why did you report these crops here?

Did you read the instructions in Question 3?

Section 10 Field Crops

Question 1

If no Field Crops reported in Question 1:

What does the term “field crop” mean to you in this question? What type of crops would you include? At any time in 2020, did you harvest any type of field crop such as sunflower seed, flaxseed, lentils, peas, chickpeas, hops, hemp, peanuts, etc? If yes, what did you harvest? How many acres did you harvest? Why didn’t you report them here? Where would you report them on the form?

If Field Crops reported in Question 1:

In Question 1, you reported that you have field crops. What does the term “field crop’ mean to you in this question? Can you tell me a little more about the field crops that you harvested?

Do you have field crops that are part of your home garden? Did you grow any field crops for personal use? If so, please explain how they were used and how much. How much of your total acres harvested are part of your home garden? If 100% ask: Did you see the instructions to exclude home gardens?

Question 3

In Question 3 did you list all the field crops that you harvested in 2020? If no, what crops didn’t you list and why didn’t you list them?

Can you walk me through how you filled out this table? How did you determine your response for each column? (ask for each crop listed)

Did you sell the crops you reported in Question 3? Did you report the value of unsold crops in the Gross Value of Sales column?

Did you harvest any crops that were used on this operation? Can you tell me about those crops? Did you report them on the questionnaire? If yes, in what item?

If included a crop that is NOT a field crop: I see you included <crop they included incorrectly> in Question 3. Why did you include <crop> here?

[Observe] Did the respondent report hay in the field crops section?

What type of hay do you harvest? Why did you report your Hay here? (Should “Hay – report in Section 8 be added”?)

[Observe] Did the respondent have Alfalfa hay? Did they report it in the hay section? If not, did the respondent notice that alfalfa hay was in the Field Crops list and that it referred them to Section 8? Did the respondent move the hay to section 8?

Why do you think these field crops are already printed in the table for Question 3?

[Observe] Did the respondent enter the crop name and code correctly?

Did you use these crop listings at the bottom of the page to answer Question 3?

If respondent didn’t use the crop listing at bottom of page: Did you see the listing at the bottom of the page? Why do you think there is a list of field crops at the bottom of the page? Do you have any of the field crops that are listed at the bottom of the page? If saw the list of crops: Why didn’t you use the list of field crops to answer Question 3?

If used the crop listing at bottom of page: Were you able to find all of your field crops for Question 3 listed at the bottom of page 9? If no, what was missing? Was there anything else on this list that you have but did not report in Question 3? If yes, what field crops did you not report?

Entered crop names but no code entered in Question 3: What do you think the ‘enter code’ column in Question 3 is asking for? Did you see the code numbers at the bottom of page 9? If saw the codes, Why didn’t you use the code numbers?

Hops

[Observe] If the respondent had hops, were the acres reported to the tenth?

Can you walk me through how you filled out the table for your hops?

Did you have any difficulty reporting your hops? If so, tell me more about that.

Hemp

Did this operation grow industrial hemp? Please tell me more about the industrial hemp. (Does the respondent produce help slips, starts, or transplants? How does the respondent refer to this type of production?)

What did you harvest the hemp for, oil, fiber, seed, etc? Did you report all hemp that you harvested? Why or why not?

Did you have any difficulty reporting your hemp on the form? (e.g., Was the respondent confused about how to report the hemp harvested or production? Were the units appropriate?)

Did you have any hemp that you did not harvest? Would you report these crops here? Why or why not?

[Anticipate a new question is needed in the Nursery section under the Propagative Materials Sold category “Industrial hemp plants sold for transplants to farm fields”. Is that terminology correct? How would respondent list this type of propagative crop?]

Section 11 Nursery, Greenhouse, Floriculture, Sod, Mushrooms, Vegetable Seeds, and Propagative Materials

Vegetable Seed

Did you grow any vegetable seed?

If yes: Can you tell me about the vegetable seeds you grew? What kind of vegetable seeds were they? Were they grown under glass or in the open? Did you report them here? Did you report them in the Vegetable section also?

Sod

Did you grow any sod?

Did you report it here?

If no: Why didn’t you report sod in this section?

If yes: Can you walk me through how you filled out the table for sod? How did you determine your answer to acres in the open? Did you grow any sod that you don’t intend to sell this year? Was that sod included in your acres?

Section 12 Vegetables, Potatoes, and Melons

Question 1

If no vegetables reported in Question 1:

At any time in 2020, did you harvest any type of vegetables, potatoes, sweetcorn, or melon? If yes: What did you harvest? How many acres did you harvest? Why didn’t you report them here?

Do you grow any vegetable crops for seed? If so, why didn’t you report that here? Did you see the instruction to include crops grown for seed? What do you grow? How do you grow it (i.e. in the open, under protection)?

If vegetables reported in Question 1:

In Question 1, you reported that you harvested vegetables, potatoes, sweet corn or melon. Can you tell me a little more about the crops that you harvested? Were these crops grown in the open?

Were any of these crops grown in your home garden? How much of your total acres harvested are part of your home garden? If 100% ask: Did you see the instructions to exclude home gardens?

Question 4

In Question 4 did you list all the vegetables, potatoes and melons that you harvested in 2020? If no, what crops didn’t you list and why didn’t you list them?

Did you grow any vegetables for seeds? If yes, can you tell me about them? What kind of vegetables were they? Were they grown under cover or in the open? Did you report them in this section, in what crop code? Did you report these in the Nursery section?

Was the seed included in fresh market? Recommend adding a bullet in #4 “- Include vegetable crops grown for seed in Fresh Market.”

If vegetable seed was included in the section, was the sales of the seed reported Question 3 (gross value of sales)? If not, why?

If included a crop that is NOT a vegetable, potato or melon: I see you included <crop they included incorrectly> in Question 4. Why did you include <crop> here?

[Observe] Did the respondent enter the crop name and code correctly?

Did you use these crop listings at the bottom of the page to answer Question 4?

If respondent didn’t use the crop listing at bottom of page: Did you see the list of crops at the bottom of page 11? Why do you think there is a list of crops at the bottom of the page? Do you have any of the crops that are listed at the bottom of the page? If saw the list of crops ask: why didn’t you use this list when answering Question 4?

If used the crop listing at bottom of page: Were you able to find all of your crops for Question 4 listed at the bottom of page 11? If no, what was missing? Was there anything else on this list that you have but did not report in Question 4? If yes, what crops did you not report?

Entered crop names but no code entered in Question 3: What do you think the ‘enter code’ column in Question 4 is asking for? Did you see the code numbers at the bottom of page 11? If saw the codes, Why didn’t you use the code numbers?

Section 21 Other Livestock

Question 1

If no to Question 1: What does the term “other livestock” mean to you in this section? Did you have any of other types of livestock such as alpacas, bees, bison, deer, laboratory animals, llamas, mink, rabbits, worms, etc? If yes: What did you have? Why didn’t you report them here?

If yes to Question 1: Can you tell me why you answered yes to this question? What types of other livestock did you have?

Question 2

Can you walk me through how you filled out this table?

Did you list all the “other livestock” that you had in 2020? If no, what animals didn’t you list and why didn’t you list them?

For mink or other livestock listed: Were these live animals or fur/pelts? If fur/pelts, did you also report these in the “livestock products” table in the next section?

If included an animal that is NOT an “other livestock”: I see you included <animal they included incorrectly> in Question 2. Why did you include <animal> here?

[Observe] Did the respondent enter the livestock and code correctly?

Did you use the list of livestock at the bottom of the page to answer Question 2?

If respondent didn’t use the livestock listing at bottom of page: Did you see the list of other livestock under the table? Why do you think there is a list of livestock at the bottom of the page? Do you have any of the livestock that are listed at the bottom of the page? If saw the list of livestock: Why didn’t you use the list of livestock when answering Question 2?

If used the livestock listing at bottom of page: Were you able to find all of your livestock for Question 2 listed below the table? If no, what was missing? Was there anything else on this list that you have but did not report in Question 2? If yes, what animals did you not report?

Entered livestock but no code entered in Question 2: What do you think the ‘enter code’ column in question 2 is asking for? Did you see the code numbers below? If saw the codes, Why didn’t you use the code numbers?

Section 22 Livestock Products

Question 1

If answered no: What does the term “livestock products” mean to you in this section? Did you or anyone else produce any type of livestock products on your operation, such as beeswax, fur, manure, horns, semen or embryos? If so, can you tell more about what was produced? What was it? How much? Did you sell it? Why didn’t you report it here?

If answered yes: Can you tell me more about the livestock products produced on this operation? What types of products were they? Were these products all produced on your operation? If no, where were they produced?

Question 2

Can you walk me through how you filled out this table?

Did you list all the livestock products you produced in 2020? If no, what products didn’t you list and why didn’t you list them?

If included product that is NOT a livestock product: I see you included <livestock product they included incorrectly> in Question 2. Why did you include < livestock product > here?

[Observe] Did the respondent enter the livestock product and code correctly?

Did you use the list of livestock products under the table to answer Question 2?

If respondent didn’t use the livestock product listing at bottom of page: Did you see the list of products under the table? Why do you think there is a list of products at the bottom of the page? Do you have any of the products that are listed at the bottom of the page? If saw the list of products: Why didn’t you use the list of livestock products when answering Question 2?

If used the livestock product listing at bottom of page: Were you able to find all of your livestock products for Question 2 listed below the table? If no, what was missing? Was there anything else on this list that you have but did not report in Question 2? If yes, what product did you not report?

Entered livestock product but no code entered in Question 2: What do you think the ‘enter code’ column in question 2 is asking for? Did you see the code numbers below? If saw the codes, Why didn’t you use the code numbers?

Section 25 Practices (internet question)

Do you have internet access? How do you access the internet? Can you access this internet on the farm operation? At your home?

If the respondent answered no to Question 3 but reported having internet access at the operation or the operator’s home: Why did you answer no to this question?

Why did you select the answer that you did?

Did you have any difficulty answering this question? Did you have any difficulty selecting the type of service that you use? If so, can you tell me more about that?

Section 28 Renewable Energy

Question 1

Are you familiar with the terms used in Question 1? If no, what terms are you not familiar with?

Are there any other terms you would use to describe the renewable energy producing systems listed in Question 2? What are they?

Do you have any wind turbines, solar panels, methane digesters, or any other renewable energy producing systems on this operation that are not owned by this operation? Can you tell me more about them? Who owns them? Did you report these in this section? If not, Why didn’t you report renewable energy producing systems on this operation that you did not own?

If answered none/left bank:

Can you look over the list of systems in Question 2, and verify that you don’t have any of these?

If gave a positive response:

Can you describe the renewable energy producing systems on your operation?

[Observe] Based on the description they gave in the previous probe, did the respondent select the correct response option(s)? If not: Can you tell me why you selected the responses that you did?

Are there any other renewable energy producing systems on your operation that you didn’t report? If so, What were these systems? Why didn’t you report them here?

Section 29 Farm labor – unpaid workers

Question 1

If none, zero, blank Question 1: Can you tell me why you answered this way? Do you have any one who works on your operation but is not paid? If so, why didn’t you include them here?

If positive response to Question 1: Can you tell me who you included in your response? Who are these people? What type of work do they do? How often do they work? Do you compensate them in any way for their time?

Question 2

If none, zero, blank to Question 2a or 2b: Can you tell me why you answered this way? When this question asks about hired farm or ranch workers, what do you think that means? Do you have anyone who works for pay on your operation, including family? If so, why didn’t you report them here?

How did you determine if a person worked less than 150 days or 150 days or more? Are all of these workers paid? If not: How many are not paid? Why did you report unpaid workers here?

Do the numbers reported in items 1, 2a and 2b include everyone who worked on this operation in 2020? If not, who was not included?

Was there anyone who was included in more than one of these items (1, 2a and 2b)? Why did you include them more than once?

Question 3

When this question asks about foreign and domestic migrant workers, what does that mean to you?

If none, zero, or blank to question 3: Did you have any more workers who travelled from their permanent residence to work on your operation? If so, why didn’t you include them here?

If positive response to question 3: Tell me more about these workers. How long did they work on your farm? Approximately how far did they have to travel from their permanent residence to get to your farm? Did you hire them directly or through a contractor?

Section 31 Production expenses (Questions 3, 15, 16, 17)

Question 3

For livestock operations: Did you have expenses for any sprays, dips, pesticides, antibacterial disinfectants, etc for your livestock? Did you report these in this section? If yes, in what item?

Question 15

Can you tell me what types of expenses you included in your response to Question 15?

Did you have any carcass removal expenses? Are they included in your answer to question 15? If not, why not?

Question 16

Can you tell me what types of expenses you included in your response to Question 16?

Do you have any vehicle registration fees for farm vehicles? Do you know how much they were in 2020? If so, are they included in your answer to qusetion16? If not, why not?

Question 17

[Observe] did respondent enter the total production expenses correctly in item 17?

Question 17 asks for your total production expenses. Can you tell me how you calculated your response?

Section 33 Income from Farm Related Sources

Question 2

What do you think this question is asking? Can you tell me what you included in your response?

Question 7

Can you tell me what you included in your response?

Did you have any revenue from renting buildings, including livestock buildings? Did you report this in this section? In which item?

Operator/Operation Email

1) Is there an e-mail address for this farm/ranch operation?

2) How many e-mail addresses are there for this farm/ranch?

3) Are they active e-mail addresses? That is, how often are they used to send/receive e-email?

4) Are this/these e-mail address(es) assigned to a person? Who uses this/these e-mail address(es)?

5) How often is this email checked?

5) What do you use this/these e-mail address(es) for?

6) How likely are these e-mail addresses to change?

7) Would you be interested in receiving e-mails from NASS?

8) What types of e-mails would be useful to receive?

9) If we emailed you to complete this questionnaire, who should we send the email to?

10) How often would you like to receive e-mails from NASS? What is reasonable? What is too much?

11) How do you prefer NASS contact you?

12) Does your operation have a website?

PRD and Other general reporting issues

Are there items we could provide you from previous times you have reported data to NASS that would help you complete this report? What items would be most useful?

Do you refer to your records to help complete this report? What records are useful?

Would it be easier for you to report if you had already completed your taxes? Do you refer to your tax forms to help complete the census of agriculture? What items do you use from your taxes to complete the COA?

The deadline to return your form is in early February. Do you think this is a reasonable deadline for reporting? If not, why not?

Survey Attitude Scale

1. I really enjoy responding to questionnaire through the mail or internet.

1	2	3	4	5	6	7
Totally Disagree						Totally Agree

2. I really enjoy being interviewing for a survey

1	2	3	4	5	6	7
Totally Disagree						Totally Agree

3. Surveys are interesting in themselves.

1	2	3	4	5	6	7
Totally Disagree						Totally Agree

4. Surveys are important for society.

1	2	3	4	5	6	7
Totally Disagree						Totally Agree

5. A lot can be learned from information collected through surveys.

1	2	3	4	5	6	7
Totally Disagree						Totally Agree

6. Completing surveys is a waste of time.

1	2	3	4	5	6	7
Totally Disagree						Totally Agree

7. I receive far too many requests to participate in surveys.

1	2	3	4	5	6	7
Totally Disagree						Totally Agree

8. Opinion polls are an invasion of privacy.

1	2	3	4	5	6	7
Totally Disagree						Totally Agree

9. It is exhaustive to answer so many questions in a survey.

1	2	3	4	5	6	7
Totally Disagree						Totally Agree