LARAMIE – Wyoming’s farmers and ranchers will soon have the opportunity to represent agriculture by taking part in the 2017 Census of Agriculture.
Conducted every five years by the USDA, the census is the only complete count of U.S. farms and ranches and the people who operate them. It includes the smallest plots of land – rural or urban – growing fruits, vegetables or raising animals, if $1,000 or more of such products were raised and sold, or normally would have been sold, during the census year (2017).
 “It’s important for operations of all sizes and from all parts of agriculture to complete the census,” said Cole Ehmke, a specialist with University of Wyoming Extension. “The census tells us how agriculture is changing, what is staying the same, what’s working and what we can do differently. This data is used to help shape policies, services and assistance programs.”
Producers new to farming or ranching or who didn’t receive a Census of Agriculture in 2012 should sign up at agcensus.usda.gov by June 30, said Ehmke. Census forms will be mailed in December and can be completed online or by mail through Feb. 5, 2018.
 “The online form will be user-friendly since it will automatically calculate totals and skip questions that are not pertinent,” Ehmke said.
The 2012 Census of Agriculture revealed a 4-percent decrease in the number of U.S. farms from the previous census in 2007.
Other items noted:

• Three-quarters of all farms had sales of less than $50,000, producing only 3 percent of the total value of farm products sold, while those with sales of more than $1 million – 4 percent of all farms – produced
66 percent.
• Organic sales were growing but accounted for just 0.8 percent of the total value of U.S. agricultural production.
n Young, beginning principal operators who reported their primary occupation as farming increased 11.3 percent. The average age of a farmer was 58.3 years old, a continuation of a 30-year trend.
 “This year, NASS will collect new information, including data on active duty and military veteran farmers, as well as have expanded questions about food marketing practices,” Ehmke said.
Included are:
Expanded questions about food marketing practices, including the gross value of edible agricultural products sold directly to consumers and retail markets. In 2012, this section only included yes/no-type questions to determine whether an operation marketed food items directly to consumers.
Elimination of specific designations or titles such as principal operator and new/beginning farmer. Removing these designations helps better capture the roles and contributions of women and new/beginning farmers, said Ehmke. To maintain continuity with the principal operator data series in earlier censuses, the 2017 Census of Agriculture retains a principal operator
bridge question.
An expanded question about who makes what kind of decisions on the farm. The 2017 census questionnaire includes functional decision-making categories for each decision maker listed and asks respondents to mark all that apply: day-to-day decisions, land use/crop decisions, livestock decisions, record keeping/financial decisions and
estate planning.
Results will be available beginning in February 2019. As per U.S. law, results will be reported in aggregate form to ensure no individual operation or producer can be identified.
Contact Ehmke at 307-766-3782 or at cehmke@uwyo.edu for more information.