Analysis
NAICS 115114 is the 2022 national industry for postharvest crop activities (except cotton ginning), part of 11511 (Support Activities for Crop Production). Census lists 42 example activities under it in the official index.
County Business Patterns counts 1,000 US establishments in this code in 2023, employing 26,330 people at an average annual payroll of $56,141 per employee (26th percentile of national industries). 38% of the establishments have fewer than five employees, which is close to the national mix.
Census lists 6 related activities that belong elsewhere, most often in 115111, 311119, 311423 and 312230. Businesses that do several things are classified by their primary activity, the one that generates the most value, so check those boundaries before settling on this code.
Its index entries, the activities Census uses to assign businesses to this code, include almond hulling and shelling, banana ripening, bean cleaning and corn drying, among 42 in all.
Between 2018 and 2023 the number of establishments fell 9% and employment fell 20%. The 2018 count used NAICS 2017, so part of a large move can come from codes being redefined rather than from businesses opening or closing.
Its goods appear in 4 statistical lines of the US tariff schedule, mostly under headings 0802 (other nuts, fresh or dried, whether or not shelled or peeled). That link is how import data is matched to domestic producers, for example in trade-remedy cases.
Official definition
This U.S. industry comprises establishments primarily engaged in performing services on crops, subsequent to their harvest, with the intent of preparing them for market or further processing. These establishments provide postharvest activities, such as crop cleaning, sun drying, shelling, fumigating, curing, sorting, grading, packing, and cooling.
Source: US Census Bureau, NAICS 2022 Manual.
Not this code if…
| The business mainly does | Use instead |
|---|---|
| Ginning cotton | 115111 Cotton Ginning |
| Custom grain grinding for animal feed | 311119 Other Animal Food Manufacturing |
| Artificially drying and dehydrating fruits and vegetables | 311423 Dried and Dehydrated Food Manufacturing |
| Stemming and redrying tobacco | 312230 Tobacco Manufacturing |
| Buying farm products for resale to other wholesalers or retailers and preparing them for market or further processing | 424480 Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Merchant Wholesalers |
| Providing farm management services (i.e., on a contract or fee basis) and arranging or contracting postharvesting crop activities for the farm(s) they manage | 115116 Farm Management Services |
Index entries (42)
- Almond hulling and shelling
- Banana ripening
- Bean cleaning
- Corn drying
- Corn shelling
- Crop cleaning
- Decorticating flax
- Delinting cottonseed
- Filbert hulling and shelling
- Fruit precooling
- Fruit sorting, grading, and packing
- Fruit, sun drying
- Fruit, vacuum cooling
- Fumigating grain
- Grain cleaning
- Grain drying
- Grain fumigation
- Grain grinding (except custom grinding for animal feed)
- Hulling and shelling of nuts
- Irradiation of fruits and vegetables
- Nut hulling and shelling
- Packaging fresh or farm-dried fruits and vegetables
- Packing fruits and vegetables
- Peanut shelling
- Pecan hulling and shelling
- Potato curing
- Retting flax
- Rice drying
- Seed cleaning
- Seed processing, postharvest for propagation
- Sorting, grading, cleaning, and packing of fruits and vegetables
- Sun drying of dates, prunes, raisins, and olives
- Sun drying of fruits and vegetables
- Sun drying of tomatoes
- Sweet potato curing
- Tobacco grading
- Vegetable precooling
- Vegetable sorting, grading, and packing
- Vegetable sun drying
- Vegetable vacuum cooling