The Census of Agriculture is a “complete count” of farms and ranches and the people who operate them for every state and county in the United States. Conducted every five years by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), the census is the only source of uniform, comprehensive, and impartial agricultural data. The census collects data on many topics, but the information most frequently used is about land use and ownership, operator characteristics, crops, livestock and production practices, income, and expenditures. The highlights in this fact sheet are a small sampling of data that are available and support the efforts of people who care about the future of agriculture and agricultural land.
