for major crops, and numbers of major kinds of livestock on farms. Additional items will be: number of farm operators by age, days of off-farm work by farm operators, value of all farm products sold, recrea- tional income, number of trucks, tractors, com- bines, mower conditioners, and pickup balers. Expenditure items will cover purchase of feed, fertilizer, pesticides, lime and other agricultural chemicals, gasoline and other farm fuels, machine hire, farm labor, and livestock and poultry pur- chases. Data in detail will be published for each State and for the United States. FARMS WITH SALES OF $2,500 OR MORE. . . Will be described in detail. Typical tabular sum- maries will include: acres of individual crops har- vested, acres irrigated, acres fertilized, number of tractors by type, number of regular hired workers, tons of dry and liquid fertilizer used, acres limed, acres on which chemicals were applied, inventory of cattle, hogs, and sheep by age-sex classes, and total of contracts for production of crop and live- stock items. In the 1969 Census of Agriculture the 1,733.683 farms with sales of $2,500 or more accounted for 98 percent of the total value of all farm products sold. FARMS WITH SALES OF LESS THAN $2,500. . . Will be described in limited detail. To avoid ask- ing unnecessary questions of small farmers, a short report form was developed. Thus, the more detail- ed data will not be available for most of the small- er operations. frs £lT'S CONFIDENTIAL. . . t" Response to the census is required by law (Title •X 13, United States Code). By the same law, O. information furnished on report forms is kept S confidential. It may be seen only by sworn Census A employees and may be used only for statistical purposes. Even other government agencies cannot obtain or use the report made by any operator. The law also provides that copies retained by the operator are immune from legal process. In this connection, a statement of the House Subcommittee on Census and Statistics of the Post Office and Civil Service Committee is of interest: "There has never been a single claim substanti- ated that the Bureau of the Census has made indi- vidual information available outside the Bureau or that the Bureau has ever used any information received other than for authorized purposes." CENSUS DATA ARE USED. . . Directly or indirectly in almost all planning and decision making related to agriculture. Census data help farmers to understand current trends in the huge business of which they are a part. Other users include government agencies, agri- cultural experiment stations and colleges, farm organizations and businesses on whom farmers depend for information, services, materials, and equipment they use. FOR MORE INFORMATION. . . Write or telephone J. Thomas Breen, Agriculture Divi- sion, Bureau of the Census, Washington, D.C. 20233. Telephone: 301-763-5230. Fill it out - Mail it back jfife January I 1975 PENN STATE UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES C5 ■ A DEPARTMENT OF COMM BUB ADDD0?2AbD021 THE NSUS Conducted during the early part of 1975, cov- ers farm and ranch operations during 1974. Much of the data gathered will be comparable to that for 1969 and earlier census years. Rapid changes are taking place in agriculture, the Nation's biggest business, and it is vital that these changes be measured and understood by farmers and ranchers and by those who eerve them. The Census of Agriculture, taken every five years, is the only source of statistics on agriculture that are comparable, county by county, on a nationwide basis. It is the sole source of compre- hensive agriculture data tabulated for each State and for the United States as a whole for farms classified by size, tenure, type of organization, market value of farm products sold, and type of farm enterprise. CENSUS BY MAIL. .. Report forms (census questionnaires) are mail- ed out the last of December 1974. The mail meth- od allows the farm or ranch operator to complete the report at his convenience and to make use of his farm business records. In the absence of rec- ords, best estimates are acceptable. Operators are urged to fill out their report forms carefully and return them promptly. Late reports delay the cen- sus and add to its cost. Operators who do not return their reports within a reasonable time will be contacted by the Census Bureau. PARTNERSHIP IN PLANNING. . . Is an important element in taking the Census of Agriculture. The questions in the '74 census were developed by the staff of the Agriculture Division of the Bureau. Selection of questions is based on needs ex- pressed by users, experience gained in earlier cen- suses, results of a January 1974 pretest, and recommendations of the Census Advisory Commit- tee on Agriculture Statistics. This Committee is composed of representatives of farm organizations, academic, government, and research groups concerned with agriculture, and organizations representing manufacturers and dis- tributors of farm supplies and equipment, as well as users of farm products. They include: American Farm Bureau Federation National Farmers Organization National Farmers Union The National Grange American Farm Bureau Women's Committee American Agricultural Economic Association National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges Rural Sociological Society National Association of State Departments of Agriculture U.S. Department of Agriculture Federal Statistics Users' Conference National Council of Farmer Cooperatives National Agri-Marketing Association American Petroleum Institute Farm and Industrial Equipment Institute National Agricultural Chemists Association American Feed Manufacturers Association American Meat Institute National Canners Association Because of the special interest of the U.S. De- partment of Agriculture, there is continuous co- operation with agencies in the department. QUESTIONS IN THE CENSUS. . . Ask for such facts as acreage of cropland har- vested, quantity and market value of major crops produced, acres irrigated and means of irrigation, acreage treated with pesticides, lime and other chemicals, and acreage fertilized. Questions on livestock and poultry cover the number of each kind on the farm as well as the number sold in 1974 and the sales value. Quanti- ties and sales value of products are requested. Details are sought about farm products pro- duced and marketed under contract. A few ques- tions are included about hired and contract labor, number of workers and cash wages paid, and about work-connected injuries and illnesses. Additional expenditure questions cover amounts spent for feed, fertilizer, pesticides, lime, gasoline and other farm fuels, machine hire, and livestock and poultry purchases. There are questions about the various types and uses of land, such as cropland not harvested, other pasture and woodland, and about the value of land and buildings on the farm. And operators are asked about farm-related in- come such as recreational services on the farm, customwork provided to other farmers, or pay- ments for participation in government farm pro- grams. Specialized agriculture is covered in questions dealing with such products as fruits and vegetables of all kinds, hydroponic farming, nursery prod- ucts, sod and mushrooms. Also covered are goats, fish, honey, horses and ponies, mink and mink pelts, and numerous other highly specialized prod- ucts. Among the few new inquiries in this census: operators are asked to provide information about grain storage facilities and use of the commodity futures market. OPERATORS ANSWER ONLY PERTINENT QUESTIONS. . . Because the same report form is used in all parts of the United States and contains questions that apply to the many different kinds of agricul- ture practiced in the country. Whole sections may not apply to an individual operator's farm or ranch. For these he checks a "No" box and goes to the next section. PUBLISHED DATA FOR ALL FARMS. . . Will include for each country: total number of farms, average value of land and buildings per farm, cropland harvested, acreage and production