USDA Agricultural Statistics
The USDA conducts a census of U.S. farms and ranches at five year intervals looking at “land use and ownership, operator characteristics, production practices, income, and expenditures.” The data collected by the census can be accessed in tabular format from the National Agricultural Statistics Service’s Quick Stats database.
USDA data products including the Agriculture census:
- USDA Census of Agriculture State and County Profiles. Topics include: Producer data, crops, livestock, market value, farm size, and land use.
- USDA Detailed Agriculture Census. This resource provides additional and more detailed data regarding producers and production in Wisconsin.
- USDA Agriculture Census by Watershed. This resource summarizes the Census of Agriculture by watersheds. Topics include: Farms and farmland, land uses, fertilizer and chemical use, selected crops, and livestock inventory.
- USDA Research and Science maps. This resource includes raster maps (rectangular matrix of pixels) of cropland, soil conditions, and vegetation for the U.S.
User expertise rating:
Intermediate. This suite of datasets from USDA is comprehensive but some digging may be required to find specific data. The data products tend to be pdf reports designed for humans to take in but are less easily machine readable.
Sample questions:
How many farms are there in Clark County? What is the average acreage of each? How many total acres are in cranberry production in Wisconsin? Which county has the most?
