COUNTY AWAITS AGRICULTURAL CENSUS; FEDERAL REPORT TO OFFER A COMPLETE TALLY OF U.S. FARMS, RANCHES, OPERATORS.(Local)

Byline: Aaron Gifford Staff writer

The latest Census of Agriculture comes out next week.

That census, taken by the U.S. Department of Agriculture every five years, is a complete count of U.S. farms and ranches and the people who operate them. It also looks at land use and ownership, operator characteristics, production practices and income and expenditures for farms.

The data was collected in 2007 and took more than a year to analyze.

Madison County officials previously said the upcoming census report could show many farms have made the change to organic production, and that an increasing number of people from Pennsylvania and states in New …