2007 Census of Agriculture: History [PDF 29.6MB].
2002 Census of Agriculture: History [PDF 456KB]
1997 Census of Agriculture: History [PDF 756KB]
A history and description of the agriculture census schedules used from 1850 to 1900 is available in Agriculture Schedules: 1850-1900 [PDF 4.07MB].
1840 to 1950 Census of Agriculture on USDA's Historical Census Publications Web site