Support Activities for Agriculture & Forestry
NAICS 115: Agricultural and forestry support services — custom farming, farm management, and forestry contracting.
Industry at a Glance
Sector-wide aggregates across all businesses classified under NAICS 115 (2017 classification frame). For specific sub-industries within this sector, see the individual reports below.
Industry Overview
NAICS 115 covers establishments that provide specialized services to farms, ranches, and forestry operations on a contract or fee basis — without owning or managing the land themselves. This includes custom harvesting crews that move through the Great Plains wheat belt each summer, aerial applicators spraying crop protection products across the Mississippi Delta, farm management companies overseeing absentee-owned operations in Iowa and Illinois, and forestry contractors performing timber stand improvement in the Pacific Northwest and Southeast.
The sector operates as the outsourced labor and equipment arm of American agriculture. Custom operators bring combine harvesters, planters, and sprayers to farms that cannot justify owning capital equipment outright. Farm labor contractors, regulated under the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (MSPA), supply harvest crews to fruit and vegetable operations in California, Florida, and Washington. Forestry support firms manage timber sales, conduct prescribed burns under state forestry agency permits, and perform reforestation under contracts with Weyerhaeuser, Rayonier, and other timberland owners.
Agricultural consulting has expanded beyond traditional agronomy into technology-enabled advisory services. Companies like Ag Partners and Servi-Tech provide soil sampling, nutrient management planning, and precision agriculture consulting. The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) contracts with technical service providers for conservation planning, connecting this subsector directly to federal conservation program delivery.
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Industry Trends
Precision agriculture service providers are deploying drone-based scouting, variable-rate application, and satellite imagery analytics through platforms like Sentera and Taranis, creating a tech-enabled consulting tier above traditional crop scouting.
Farm labor contractors face intensifying regulatory scrutiny under the MSPA and state-level heat illness prevention standards in California and Oregon, raising compliance costs and reshaping workforce management practices.
Forestry support demand is rising in the Southeast as Weyerhaeuser, PotlatchDeltic, and other timberland REITs expand reforestation and timber stand improvement programs to sustain long-rotation harvest cycles.
Carbon credit verification services are emerging as a new revenue stream, with providers offering soil sampling and data collection to support programs from Indigo Ag, Nori, and the Ecosystem Services Market Consortium.
The H-2A temporary worker program now accounts for a growing share of seasonal agricultural labor supply, with labor contractors managing visa sponsorship, housing, and transportation logistics for growers in labor-intensive crop sectors.
Specialty Reports Available on Request
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Industry Groups
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is NAICS 115? ▾
NAICS 115 classifies establishments providing contract services to agriculture and forestry operations, including custom planting, spraying, harvesting, farm management, forestry consulting, and agricultural labor supply. These businesses do not own or operate farmland or timberland — they sell specialized services to those who do. The code also covers postharvest crop activities like cotton ginning and crop drying.
What is custom harvesting and how does it work? ▾
Custom harvesting involves independent operators who own combines and support equipment and travel from farm to farm — often across multiple states — to harvest crops for a per-acre fee. The annual wheat harvest run, for example, begins in Texas in May and follows the crop northward through Oklahoma, Kansas, and into the Dakotas by August. Custom operators allow farmers to harvest without owning expensive combine equipment.
How are agricultural labor contractors regulated? ▾
Farm labor contractors must register with the U.S. Department of Labor under the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (MSPA), which sets requirements for wage disclosure, housing standards, transportation safety, and record-keeping. California's AB 1066 extended overtime protections to agricultural workers, and several states have enacted heat illness prevention standards that directly affect contractor operations.
What forestry support services fall under NAICS 115? ▾
Forestry support includes timber cruising (inventory estimation), prescribed burning, reforestation planting, timber stand improvement (thinning and pruning), and forest road construction. Contractors work for private timberland owners like Weyerhaeuser and Rayonier, state forestry agencies, and the U.S. Forest Service under competitive bid contracts.
How is technology changing agricultural support services? ▾
Drone-based crop scouting, GPS-guided variable-rate application, and satellite imagery analysis are creating a premium consulting tier. Companies like Sentera provide aerial sensing platforms, while farm management software from Granular (now part of Corteva) integrates field-level data into operational recommendations. These tools allow service providers to charge for data-driven insights alongside traditional fieldwork.
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