2007 Census of Agriculture Non-Response Methodology

Every five years the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) conducts a Census of Agriculture for the entire US. NASS strives to achieve the most accurate results through diligent data collection and use of the best methodology available. For the 2007 Census of Agriculture, the non-response adjustment methodology was changed to incorporate the use of classification trees for each state in the US using a set of input variables describing several factors including size and type of farm as well as demographics of the operator. The trees split records into different groups based on which variables defined the largest difference with respect to response rate. End groups, or leaves were adjusted for non-response based on the response rate of their respective leaf. This paper will present details and results of using this methodology on the 2007 Census of Agriculture.