Specialty Crops (2018) Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa Volume 2 • Subject Series • Part 9 AC-17-S-9 Issued August 2020 United States Department of Agriculture Sonny Perdue, Secretary National Agricultural Statistics Service Hubert Hamer, Administrator Introduction HISTORY The 2018 Census of Agriculture Specialty Crop report for the Outlying Areas provides data that supplement the 2018 Census of Agriculture, Volume 1, Geographic Area Series, Parts 52 through 56 publications (www.nass.usda.gov/Publications/AgCensus/2017/). This publication complies with Section 101 of the Specialty Crops Competitiveness Act of 2004 (7 U.S.C. §1621 note) and was amended under section 10010 of the Agricultural Act of 2014, Public Law 113-79 (the Farm Bill) which defines specialty crops as "fruits and vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits, and horticulture and nursery crops (including floriculture)." Eligible plants must be cultivated or managed and used by people for food, medicinal purposes, and/or aesthetic gratification to be considered specialty crops. This is the second time NASS has summarized and published the census of agriculture data for the outlying areas specialty crops and the first time the publication includes all five territories. USES OF CENSUS DATA Census statistics are used to measure agricultural production and to identify trends in an ever-changing agricultural sector. Many local programs use census data as a benchmark for designing and evaluating surveys. Private industry uses census statistics to provide a more effective production and distribution system for the agricultural community. One of the most important uses of the census data is to justify claims of farmers who may suffer damages and losses due to natural disasters, such as hurricanes. LEGAL AUTHORITY The census of agriculture is required by law under the "Census of Agriculture Act of 1997," Public Law 105-113 (Title 7, United States Code, Section 2204g). The law directs the Secretary of Agriculture to conduct a census of agriculture every fifth year, covering the prior year. The census of agriculture includes each State, Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa. FARM DEFINITION The census definition of a farm varies among the Outlying Areas. For Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, it is the same as the fifty states - any place from which $1,000 or more of agricultural products were produced and sold, or normally would have been sold, during the census year. For Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, the farm definition is any place from which $500 or more of agricultural products were produced and sold, or normally would have been sold, during the census year. For American Samoa, there is no sales requirement to be included in the agriculture census and data are collected for all households holding livestock and/or producing agricultural products for sale or family use. Commercial farms are defined as places with sales of $100 or more, and noncommercial farms are those with less than $100 in sales. Many of the commercial farms produce more for home consumption than for sale, but by virtue of having sales in excess of $100 are classified as commercial. DATA COMPARABILITY In general, the data from the 2018 census are comparable with those of previous censuses. All dollar values presented in this report are expressed in current dollars, i.e., 2018 data are in 2018 dollars. The dollar values have not been adjusted for changes in price levels between census years. REFERENCE PERIOD Crop production and sales are for the 12-month period between January 1 and December 31, 2018. TABLES Tables 1 through 5 show specialty crops by the number of farms, acres harvested, value of sales, and the percent of the total value of crop sales accounted for each Outlying Area. RESPONDENT CONFIDENTIALITY In keeping with the provisions of Title 7 of the United States Code, no data are published that would disclose information about the operations of an individual farm or ranch. All tabulated data are subject to an extensive disclosure review prior to publication. Any tabulated item that identifies data reported by a respondent or allows a respondent's data to be accurately estimated or derived was suppressed and coded with a '(D)'. However, the number of farms reporting an item is not considered confidential information and is provided even though other information is withheld. CUSTOM TABULATIONS Custom-designed tabulations may be developed when data are not published elsewhere. These tabulations are developed to individual user specifications on a cost reimbursable basis and shared with the public. Quick Stats, NASS's online database that allows data users to build customized queries, should be investigated before requesting a custom tabulation. All custom tabulations are subject to a thorough disclosure review prior to release to prevent the disclosure of any individual respondent data. Requests for custom tabulations can be submitted via the internet from the NASS home page, by mail, or by e-mail to: DataLab National Agricultural Statistics Service Room 5305A, Stop 2054 1400 Independence Avenue, S.W. Washington, DC 20250-2054 or Datalab@nass.usda.gov ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS The following abbreviations and symbols are used throughout the tables: - Represents zero. (D) Withheld to avoid disclosing data for individual farms. (H) Coefficient of variation is greater than or equal to 99.5 percent of the standard error is greater than or equal to 99.95 percent of the mean. (L) Coefficient of variation is less than 0.05 percent or the standard error is less than 0.05 percent of the mean. (NA) Not available. (X) Not applicable. (Z) Less than half of the unit of tabulation. cwt Hundredweight sq. ft. Square feet. Table 1. Specialty Crops - Puerto Rico: 2018 [For meaning of abbreviations and symbols, see introductory text.] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Crop : Farms1/ : Cuerdas harvested : Value of sales (dollars) : Percent of crop sales2/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- All crops ........................................................: 3,877 379,374 242,419,442 100.0 : All specialty crops ..............................................: 3,616 47,342 157,540,663 65.0 Coffee3/ .......................................................: 1,363 13,283 4,772,608 2.0 Pineapples3/ ...................................................: 90 652 2,976,971 1.2 Plantains3/ ....................................................: 1,353 10,624 42,271,955 17.4 Bananas3/ ......................................................: 801 5,207 10,829,957 4.5 Pulse crops ....................................................: 195 590 1,002,559 0.4 : Root crops .....................................................: 770 2,375 8,705,814 3.6 Fruits and coconuts3/ ..........................................: 858 8,355 18,594,300 7.7 Vegetables .....................................................: 750 4,127 33,533,195 13.8 Nursery crops3/ ................................................: 303 2,129 34,853,304 14.4 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1/ Data are for farms with sales of specialty crops. 2/ May not add due to rounding. 3/ Cuerdas in production. Table 2. Specialty Crops - Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands: 2018 [For meaning of abbreviations and symbols, see introductory text.] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Crop : Farms1/ : Acres2/ : Value of sales (dollars) : Percent of crop sales -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- All crops ........................................................: 166 372 1,229,905 100.0 : All specialty crops ..............................................: 166 372 1,229,905 100.0 Root crops .....................................................: 74 86 (D) (D) Vegetables and melons ..........................................: 96 210 638,609 51.9 Fruits and nuts ................................................: 150 221 (D) (D) Nursery crops ..................................................: 29 18 186,390 15.2 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1/ Data refer to farms with sales of itemized commodities. 2/ Acres harvested for root crops and vegetables and melons. Acres in production for fruits and nuts and nursery crops. Table 3. Specialty Crops - Guam: 2018 [For meaning of abbreviations and symbols, see introductory text.] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Crop : Farms1/ : Acres2/ : Value of sales (dollars) : Percent of crop sales -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- All crops ........................................................: 254 665 3,703,253 100.0 : All specialty crops ..............................................: 254 665 3,703,253 100.0 Root crops .....................................................: 69 23 (D) (D) Vegetables and melons ..........................................: 160 351 1,840,346 49.7 Fruits and nuts ................................................: 224 292 (D) (D) Nursery crops ..................................................: 66 64 1,027,980 27.8 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1/ Data refer to farms with sales of itemized commodities. 2/ Acres harvested for root crops and vegetables and melons. Acres in production for fruits and nuts and nursery crops. Table 4. Specialty Crops - United States Virgin Islands: 2018 [For meaning of abbreviations and symbols, see introductory text.] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Crop : Farms1/ : Acres2/ : Value of sales (dollars) : Percent of crop sales -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- All crops ........................................................: 400 1,374 2,528,931 100.0 : All specialty crops3/ ............................................: 400 1,568 2,528,931 100.0 Field, forage, and root crops ..................................: 139 483 128,692 5.1 Vegetables .....................................................: 241 378 1,130,809 44.7 Fruits and nuts ................................................: 362 570 544,305 21.5 Nursery crops ..................................................: 67 136 725,125 28.7 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1/ Data refer to farms with sales of itemized commodities. 2/ Acres harvested for root crops and vegetables and melons. Acres in production for fruits and nuts and nursery crops. 3/ Includes acres harvested from double cropping. Table 5. Specialty Crops - American Samoa: 2018 [For meaning of abbreviations and symbols, see introductory text.] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Crop : Farms1/ : Acres2/ : Value of sales (dollars) : Percent of crop sales -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- All crops ........................................................: 6,319 9,075 9,306,483 100.0 : All specialty crops ..............................................: 6,319 9,075 9,269,527 99.6 Root crops .....................................................: 5,967 5,732 4,110,497 44.2 Vegetables and melons ..........................................: 4,007 1,341 1,064,877 11.4 Fruits and nuts ................................................: 6,210 (NA) 3,684,313 39.6 Nursery crops ..................................................: 1,516 299 409,840 4.4 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1/ Data refer to farms with sales of itemized commodities. 2/ Acres harvested for root crops and vegetables and melons. Acres in production for fruits and nuts and nursery crops. Appendix Methodology and General Terms METHODOLOGY This publication is a special tabulation of data collected in the 2018 Census of Agriculture for the Outlying Areas. For a description of the methodology used in the census, refer to the 2018 Census of Agriculture, Volume 1 available for each territory: Puerto Rico: https://www.nass.usda.gov/Publications/AgCensus/2017/Full_Report/Outlying_Are as/Puerto_Rico/prv1.pdf Guam: https://www.nass.usda.gov/Publications/AgCensus/2017/Full_Report/Outlying_Are as/guam.pdf United States Virgin Islands: https://www.nass.usda.gov/Publications/AgCensus/2017/Full_Report/Outlying_Are as/usvi.pdf American Samoa: https://www.nass.usda.gov/Publications/AgCensus/2017/Full_Report/Outlying_Are as/AmericanSamoa.pdf Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands: https://www.nass.usda.gov/Publications/AgCensus/2017/Full_Report/Outlying_Are as/cnmi.pdf TERMS AND DEFINITIONS The following definitions and explanations provide a detailed description of specific terms and phrases used in this publication. For more details relating to the census of agriculture program, go to the NASS website at https://www.nass.usda.gov/Publications/AgCensus/2017/index.php. Acres and Cuerdas. Crops were reported in tenth acres for American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Crops were reported in cuerdas in Puerto Rico. One cuerda equals .971 of an acre. Totals for crops reported were rounded to whole acres or cuerdas at the aggregate level during the tabulation process. Nursery and greenhouse crops grown under glass or other protection were converted to acres or cuerdas for this report. If two or more crops were harvested from the same land during the year (double cropping), the acres or cuerdas were counted for each crop. Therefore, the sum of all the individual crops harvested generally exceeded the acres or cuerdas of harvested cropland. Cuerdas. One cuerda equals .971 of an acre. See acres and cuerdas for more information. Farms. The number of farms represents farms with sales of the specified crop, not necessarily the number of farms with areas in production. Field, forage and root crops. Commodities included in this category are cassava (tapioca), dry corn, hay, sugarcane, sweet potatoes, taniers, and yams. Fruits and nuts. Data are for total land in fruits and nuts. For Puerto Rico, this land excludes the area in coffee, pineapples, plantains, and bananas. That area is reported separately for those individual crops. For America Samoa, data for acres are not available; the number of trees were collected for each fruit and nut crop. Land in vegetables. Data are for the total land used for vegetable and melon crops. The acres or cuerdas were reported only once, even though two or more harvests of a vegetable or more than one vegetable were harvested from the same acres. Percent of crop sales. The value represents the share of the specified category of all crop sales (including both specialty and other crops). Pulse crops. Commodities included in this category are dry edible beans and pigeon peas. Root crops. Commodities included in this category are sweet potatoes, yams, ginger, root celery, taro (dasheen), giant taro, taniers, cassava (tapioca), and gado. Specialty crops. Included in this category are fruits, tree nuts, vegetables, sweet potatoes, melons, pulse crops, nursery, greenhouse, floriculture, root crops, tubers, and other specialty crops. Value of sales. Data included in this category are the value of sales for all crops in 2018 on farms with specialty crops. This includes, but is not limited to, row crops, field crops, small grains, forage crops, vegetables, fruits and nuts, nursery crops, and other specialty crops. The value of crops sold in 2018 does not necessarily represent the sales from crops harvested in 2018. Data may include sales from crops produced in earlier years and may exclude some crops produced in 2018 but held in storage and not sold. The value of agricultural products sold was requested from all producers. If the producers failed to report this information, estimates were made based on the amount of crops harvested, livestock or poultry inventory, or number sold. Sales figures are expressed in current dollars and have not been adjusted for inflation or deflation.