The USDA Census of Agriculture (“Ag Census”) provides maps in two forms: interactive and PDF or GIF downloads.
Both formats include data that fall into five broad categories:
- Crops and Plants – Data on harvested acreage for major field crops, hay, and other forage crops, as well as acreage data for vegetables, fruits, tree nuts, and berries.
- Economics – Data on agriculture sales, farm income, government payments from conservation and farm programs, amounts received from loans, a broad range of production expenses, and value of buildings and equipment.
- Farms – Information on farm size, ownership, and Internet access, as well as data on total land in farms, land use, irrigation, fertilized cropland, and enrollment in crop insurance programs.
- Livestock and Animals – Statistics on cattle and calves, cows and heifers, milk cows, and other cattle, as well as hogs, sheep, goats, horses, and broilers.
- Operators – Statistics on hired farm labor, tenure, land rented or leased, primary occupation of farm operator, and demographic characteristics such as age, sex, race/ethnicity, and residence location.
The interactive web map allows users to:
- Select a map to display from a list of five general categories and associated subcategories.
- Zoom and pan to a specific area; use the inset buttons to center the map on the continental United States; zoom to a specific state; and show the state mask to fade areas surrounding the state.
- Create and print maps showing the variation in a single data item across the United States (for example, average value of agricultural products sold per farm).
- Select a county and view and download the county’s data for a general category.
- Download the U.S. county-level dataset of mapped values for all categories in Microsoft ® Excel format.
The PDF and GIF downloads are useful for printing and sharing. They are also available by category:
For more information on the Census of Agriculture, please see our previous post.
Information for this page sourced from:
USDA NASS, 2012 Census of Agriculture, Ag Census Web Maps. Available at:
www.agcensus.usda.gov/Publications/2012/Online_Resources/Ag_Census_Web_Maps/Overview/
