MDA Urges Farmers to Sign Up for the 2012 Census of Agriculture

ANNAPOLIS, MD (June 25, 2012) –  The Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA) urges farmers to sign up to participate in the USDA’s  2012 Census of Agriculture by the July 1 deadline to ensure they are included in this national count of U.S. farms and ranches. USDA defines a farm as any place that produced and sold, or normally would have sold, $1,000 or more of agricultural products during the Census year (2012).

“This Census provides policy makers with the only source of impartial agricultural data for every county in the nation,” said Agriculture Secretary Buddy Hance. “This Census helps give us the reliable, credible data we need to show the value and importance of agriculture.  I urge all producers to sign up and participate. By doing so, they will be helping all of U.S. agriculture.”

Participation is especially important for those individuals involved in agriculture who did not realize they qualify as a farm or have not previously participated in a Census.

Census information includes statistics on small, family farms to large, corporate farms; information on young, beginning farmers to older, experienced farmers; and insight into traditional, rural farming versus trends in areas such as lifestyle and urban farming.  To learn more and sign up for the Census of Agriculture, visit www.agcensus.usda.gov. All individual information will be kept confidential, as guaranteed by law (Title 7, U.S. Code, and CIPSEA, Public Law 107-347).