Farmers Asked to Complete 2002 Census of Agriculture
	Auburn, December 9, 2002 --- More than 40,000 Alabama farmers and 2 million 
nationally are being asked to participate in the 2002 Census of Agriculture. Farmers who receive 
a census form are required by law to fill out the census and return it by Feb. 3, 2003.  
	Dr. Jerry Crews, an agricultural economist with the Alabama Cooperative Extension 
System, says the census is the most comprehensive source of data on American agriculture.
	"The data is used in a number of ways by a wide variety of groups," says Crews.  
"Government agencies use the information to plan policies and programs.  Universities use the 
data in teaching, research and extension efforts.  Businesses and industries use the information 
to guide them in all aspects of agribusiness from product development and marketing to locating 
processing and manufacturing plants."
	Alabama farmers can expect to receive their census forms in the mail in late December.
	Crews urges all farmers to complete the census forms.  
	"Some farmers are concerned about giving out details of their operations," he says.  "It's 
important they understand that individual information is kept confidential.  The National 
Agricultural Statistics Service, who conducts the census, uses the information only for statistical 
purposes and publishes data only in tabulated totals."
	Specifically, federal laws and regulation prohibit the use of a farmer's individual report 
for taxation, investigation or regulation.
The Census of Agriculture, conducted every five years, is the only source of uniform 
agricultural data from the county to the national levels.  
	Census questions will cover a variety of topics including land use and ownership; 
irrigated land, crop acreages and quantities harvested, livestock and poultry, value of products 
sold, payments from federal programs, and number of employees.
	The Census of Agriculture defines a farm as a place that produced and sold $1,000 or 
more of agricultural products in 2002.
	Farmers who are interested can visit the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) 
Web site, www.nass.usda.gov/census/, and review the census forms that will be used in 
Alabama.
	Also available at the NASS Web site is the completed 1997 Census of Agriculture.
	The last census in 1997 counted more than 1.9 million farms in the United States.  More 
than 900,000 farms had sales of $10,000 or more, while about the same number had sales of 
less than $10,000. 
	In 1997, more than 41,000 Alabama farmers participated in the census.  More than 
15,000 of those farms had sales of less than $2,500.  About 80 percent of all Alabama farms had 
sales of less than $25,000.
	The first agriculture census was conducted in 1840.  The 2002 census will be the nation’s 
26th.