[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 128 (Wednesday, July 3, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55219-55221]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-14633]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Census Bureau

[Docket Number: 240620-0168]
X-RIN 0607-XC077


American Community Survey Agricultural Sales and Farm Indicator 
Data

AGENCY: Census Bureau, Department of Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The American Community Survey (ACS) is a continuous survey 
conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, gathering detailed housing and 
socioeconomic data from around 3.54 million addresses in the U.S. and 
about 36,000 addresses in Puerto Rico annually. It replaces the long-
form census previously done once a decade, providing crucial statistics 
for governmental, non-profit, business, and public decision-making at 
various levels. To enhance efficiency and reduce respondent burden, the 
ACS is increasingly utilizing administrative and third-party data 
sources. The Census Bureau is considering using such data to replace 
the agricultural sales question, which has implications for federal 
programs and economic analysis. The proposal explores several data 
sources to classify properties as farms or non-farms. The Department of 
Commerce invites the public to comment on the proposed research to 
determine whether data other than survey responses can be used 
effectively to replace agricultural sales data currently provided by 
the Census Bureau that has been obtained from responses to the ACS.

DATES: To ensure consideration, comments must be received on or before 
August 19, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit written comments by 
email to [email protected]. Please reference ACS Agricultural Sales 
in the subject line of your comments. All comments received are part of 
the public record. All Personally Identifiable Information (for 
example, name and address) voluntarily submitted by the commenter may 
be publicly accessible. Do not submit Confidential Business Information 
or otherwise sensitive or protected information. You may submit 
attachments to electronic comments in Microsoft Word, Excel, or Adobe 
PDF file formats.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information or 
specific questions related to collection

[[Page 55220]]

activities should be directed to Elizabeth Poehler, ADC for Survey 
Methods, U.S. Census Bureau, 301-763-9305, 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    The American Community Survey (ACS) is an ongoing monthly survey 
that collects detailed housing and socioeconomic data from a sample of 
about 3.54 million addresses in the 50 states and the District of 
Columbia and about 36,000 addresses in Puerto Rico each year, where it 
is known as the Puerto Rico Community Survey (PRCS). The ACS also 
collects detailed socioeconomic data from about 170,900 residents 
living in group quarters (GQ) facilities in the United States and 
Puerto Rico. Resulting tabulations from this data collection are 
provided every year. The ACS allows the U.S. Census Bureau to provide 
timely and relevant housing and socioeconomic statistics, even for 
small geographic areas.
    The Census Bureau developed the ACS to collect and update 
demographic, social, economic, and housing data every year that are 
essentially the same as the ``long-form'' data that the Census Bureau 
formerly collected once a decade as part of the decennial census. 
Federal and state government agencies use such data to evaluate and 
manage federal programs and to distribute funding for various programs 
that include food stamp benefits, transportation dollars, and housing 
grants. State, county, tribal, and community governments, nonprofit 
organizations, businesses, and the general public use information such 
as housing quality, income distribution, journey-to-work patterns, 
immigration data, and regional age distributions for decision-making 
and program evaluation. The ACS is now the only source of comparable 
data about social, economic, housing, and demographic characteristics 
for small areas and small subpopulations across the nation and in 
Puerto Rico.
    The ACS program provides estimates annually for all states and all 
medium and large cities, counties, and metropolitan areas. For smaller 
areas and population groups, it takes five years to accumulate enough 
data to provide reliable estimates. Every community in the nation 
continues to receive a detailed, statistical portrait of its social, 
economic, housing, and demographic characteristics each year through 
one-year and five-year ACS products.
    The ACS collects detailed socioeconomic data on over 40 topics. The 
list of topics and questions can be found here: https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2018/dec/planned-questions-2020-acs.html.
    The Census Bureau collects these data under the authority of Title 
13, United States Code, Sections 141, 193, 221, and 223. By that same 
law, the Census Bureau is obligated to use existing information that 
has already been collected by other government agencies, whenever 
possible, instead of asking for such information directly from the 
public.
    Following the Census Bureau's strategic plan and transformation 
initiative to change our focus from being a survey-centric data 
provider to a data product-focused provider of information, the ACS 
program has made it a priority to use alternative data sources and 
expand the use of administrative and third-party data to meet customer 
needs and reduce the dependency on traditional methods of data 
collection. The expanded use of administrative and third-party data in 
the ACS is expected to reduce data collection costs, improve 
operational efficiency, reduce respondent burden, and improve the 
quality of ACS data products. The Census Bureau has begun to explore 
the use of administrative and third-party data in a variety of ways for 
various topics on the ACS.
    Beginning in January 2024, we implemented an adaptive approach for 
collecting data on property lot size (acreage) that uses administrative 
property tax data purchased from a third-party vendor. We analyzed the 
quality of the property tax data for acreage and developed business 
rules for using the data. The acreage question is skipped when 
administrative data are available.
    Research is underway to determine how administrative and third-
party data can be used for other topics on the ACS. This program 
announcement is specifically related to using administrative and third-
party data for the agricultural sales question.
    The agricultural sales question was introduced in 1960 on the 
Decennial Census housing questionnaire. The question was transferred to 
the ACS when the ACS replaced the Decennial Census long-form in 2005. 
The question is asked of people living in single-family attached and 
detached housing units and mobile homes built on at least one acre of 
land.
    In the past 12 months, what were the actual sales of all 
agricultural products from this property?

None
$1 to $999
$1,000 to $2,499
$2,500 to $4,999
$5,000 to $9,999
$10,000 or more
    The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) uses data from this 
question to aid in calculations for its data release on National Income 
and Product Accounts (NIPAs). The BEA uses the data to create a 
distinction between farm and non-farm properties. They define farms as 
properties reporting agricultural product sales of $1,000 or more in 
the past 12 months; the remaining properties are classified as non-
farms.
    Data from this question are also used in editing and imputation 
procedures by the Census Bureau for employment and income.
    The Census Bureau releases data on agricultural sales on the ACS 
Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) file; data on agricultural sales are 
not included in any ACS tabulations on data.census.gov.

II. Proposal

    For a question to be included in the ACS, there must be a legally 
cited federal need for the data. Currently, BEA's use of these data is 
the only known federally required use. The Census Bureau proposes 
exploring using administrative and third-party data to satisfy BEA's 
data need instead of asking the public the agricultural sales question. 
This project proposes using administrative and third-party data from 
multiple sources to create a variable that classifies ACS sample 
addresses as farms or non-farms. The data sources under consideration 
include tax assessment records on property and land use, parcel 
boundary data from property tax records, survey data, Internal Revenue 
Service (IRS) Form 1040 Schedule F data on profit or loss from farming, 
and land cover data based on satellite imagery. Data will be assessed 
for quality and a farm indicator will be formulated through statistical 
modeling and business rules. The resulting indicator will be evaluated 
at the microdata level and against current tabulated estimates.
    The proposed farm indicator could also replace the current 
agricultural sales data used in the Census Bureau's editing and 
imputation procedures for employment and income data.
    After research is conducted, a report will be made public on the 
Census Bureau's website. The ACS is not expected to be changed before 
2026. In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act, additional 
Federal Register notices with the opportunity for public comment will 
be published in the Federal Register before a change is implemented.

[[Page 55221]]

III. Request for Comments

    We are soliciting public comments to identify additional 
stakeholders that use the current Agricultural Sales data on the ACS 
PUMS file. We are also interested in feedback about the proposed 
research.
    Comments you submit in response to this notice are a matter of 
public record. Before including your address, phone number, email 
address, or other personal identifying information in your comment, you 
should be aware that your entire comment--including your personal 
identifying information--may be made publicly available at any time. 
While you may ask us in your comment to withhold your personal 
identifying information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we 
will be able to do so.
    Robert L. Santos, Director, Census Bureau, approved the publication 
of this Notice in the Federal Register.

    Dated: June 26, 2024.
Shannon Wink,
Program Analyst, Policy Coordination Office, U.S. Census Bureau.
[FR Doc. 2024-14633 Filed 7-2-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P