The deadline is looming and I still haven't completed my federal Census of Agriculture.

Mind you, I'm not procrastinating. I started working on it the day it hit my mailbox back in December.

Who knew that a large part of being a farmer would be the paperwork involved? Every year I find myself filling out surveys and questionnaires on most aspects of my farm operation. Since my farm is diversified in the extreme, there are a lot of forms: horticulture, greenhouse, mushrooms and other specialty crops.

None of these has really prepared me for the USDA's 2002 Census of Agriculture. This one is the farmer's true nightmare.

It started off innocently enough with basic information I could easily answer off the top of my head: who I am, the location of my farm and total acreage. I then quickly went through the 20 pages looking for the easy yes/no answers and ticked them off accordingly.

Hit the brakes! The form wants detailed crop acreages (or percentages thereof).

As a direct market farmer, I grow more than three dozen different items and have sub-varieties of many of those items. I double-crop some things, some fields have two or more crops in succession throughout the growing season, part of my farm is timber. I have annual crops and perennial crops.

My big question right now is how to I make all of the fractional acreage amounts all add up to the total? I just know it's not possible. The smallest acreage increment on the form is a tenth of an acre. My fruit crop can't be measured in acres, it's in number of trees and plants. Some of my specialty ethnic vegetables can only be measured in number of feet per row.

What's in an acre?

My Christmas tree crop was originally about two acres, but after several years of it being a snack bar buffet for whitetail deer, there might be about 50 scattered trees remaining. Should I put down two acres or how much actual land space is occupied by the remaining trees if I could consolidate them? Should I count the deer as livestock? I don't house or breed them but between my Christmas trees, sweet corn fields and pumpkins, they're no doubt the best fed deer in the county.

All silliness aside, I do understand the need for this particular census.

When it comes to agriculture, the major perception (both public and governmental) is of beef, dairy and grain operations.

But American agriculture is much more. It's also the alternative and diversified operations: goats and sheep and llamas, fruits and vegetables, herbs and flowers, timber and wood products, mushrooms and niche products, cheese and jams and pepper sauces, catfish and freshwater shrimp, and so much more.

If it's in your local stores, you can bet that an American-produced version is out there somewhere.

And that's why taking the time and effort to complete the ag census to the best our all of our abilities is essential.

There's more to American agriculture than meets the immediate eye.

And an accurate census will show that.

Excuse me now while I go back to the form so I have it in the mail by the February 3 deadline.