Point farms are farms with fewer than $1,000 in sales but that have "points" worth at least $1,000. (The official definition of a farm for census purposes is “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;” if a place does not have $1,000 in sales, a point system assigns values for acres of various crops and head of various livestock species to estimate a normal level of sales.)

Point farms tend to be very small. Some, however, may normally have large sales, but experience low sales in a particular year due to bad weather, disease, or other factors. Both the Economic Research Service

Economic Research Service

The Economic Research Service is the main source of economic information and research from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Located in Washington D.C., the mission of ERS is to inform and enhance public and private decision-making on economic and policy issues related to agriculture, food,...

 (ERS) Agricultural Resource Management Survey

Agricultural Resource Management Survey

The Agricultural Resource Management Survey is the United States Department of Agriculture’s primary source of information on the financial condition, production practices, resource use, and economic well being of America’s farm households...

 (ARMS) and the census of agriculture

Census of Agriculture

The Census of Agriculture is a census conducted every five years by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service that provides the only source of uniform, comprehensive agricultural data for every county in the United States.-Overview:The census is a complete count...

use the point system to help identify farms meeting the current definition.