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Summary:

The National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), the statistical arm of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, publishes U.S., state, and county level agricultural statistics for most field crops grown in the U.S. EOS-WEBSTER provides 33 years of county crop data, although the temporal range will vary by crop. Please consult the NASS Crops County Data section for details.

In addition to crop statistics, a collection of livestock, geography, agricultural practices, and soil properties variables for 1992 is available through EOS-WEBSTER. These datasets were assembled during the mid-1990's to provide driving variables for an assessment of greenhouse gas production from US agriculture using the DNDC agro-ecosystem model [see, for example, Li et al. (1992), J. Geophys. Res., 97:9759-9776; Li et al. (1996) Global Biogeochem. Cycles, 10:297-306].  The data (except nitrogen fertilizer use) were all derived from publicly available, national databases. 

The US County Data has been divided into six datasets:

Agricultural Management
NASS Crops County Data
Geography and Population
Land Use
Livestock Populations
Soil Properties

 

Please Note: EOS-WEBSTER will no longer be updating the NASS Crops County Data. These data are now readily available from the National Agricultural Statistical Service website and is updated regularly.

Agricultural Management

NASS Crops County Data- Acreage, production and yield statistics for field crops from the National Agricultural Statistical Service (NASS) for the years 1970 through 2003. Data can be subset by irrigated and non-irrigated areas.  Sucrose content, where applicable, is also included.

Please Note: EOS-WEBSTER will no longer be updating the NASS Crops County Data. These data are now readily available from the National Agricultural Statistical Service website and is updated regularly.

Crop	Types	Area Units	Yield Units	Production Units	Sucrose Units	Start Date	End Date
Apples	Commercial	N.A.	N.A.	Pounds		1972	2003
Barley		Acres	Bushels	Bushels		1970	2003
Beans	12 Types	Acres	Pounds	Hundredweight		1970	2003
Canola		Acres	Pounds	Pounds		1999	2003
Corn	for Grain for Silage All Corn	Acres	Bushels Tons Bushels	Bushels Tons Bushels		1970 1970 1970	2003 2003 1971
Cotton	Amer-pima Upland	Acres	Pounds	Bales		1970	2003
Flaxseed		Acres	Bushels	Bushels		1970	2003
Hay	5 Types	Acres	Tons	Tons		1970	2003
Lentils		Acres	Pounds	Hundredweight		1999	2003
Mustard		Acres	Pounds	Pounds		1999	2003
Oats		Acres	Bushels	Bushels		1970	2003
Peaches		N.A.	N.A.	Pounds		1992	2003
Peanuts		Acres	Pounds	Pounds		1970	2003
Peas	Australian winter Dry edible	Acres	Pounds	Hundredweight		2001 1999	2003 2003
Potatoes		Acres	Hundredweight	Hundredweight		1970	2003
Process Vegetables	4 Types	Acres	Tons	Tons		1970	2003
Rice		Acres	Pounds	Hundredweight		1970	2003
Rye		Acres	Bushels	Bushels		1970	2003
Safflower		Acres	Pounds	Pounds		1999	2003
Sorghum	Grain Silage	Acres	Bushels Tons	Bushels Tons		1970	2003
Soybeans		Acres	Bushels	Bushels		1970	2003
Sugarbeets		Acres	Tons	Tons	Percent	1970	2003
Sugarcane		Acres	Tons	Tons	Percent	1973	2003
Sunflower Seeds	Oil Non-oil Seeds	Acres	Pounds	Pounds		1976 1976 1970	2003 2003 2003
Sweet Potatoes		Acres	Hundredweight	Hundredweight		1972	2003
Tobacco	17 types	Acres	Pounds	Pounds		1970	2003
Wheat	4 Types	Acres	Bushels	Bushels		1970	2003

NASS also offers an extensive collection of crop acreage and yield maps (gif images) for U.S. counties. For more information see: http://www.usda.gov/nass/aggraphs/cropmap.htm

Geography and Population - A current source for this data is the US Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).

• Land Area - area of county not permanently under water [km2].
  
• Latitude - location of centroid of county [decimal degrees].
  
• Longtitude - location of centroid of county [decimal degrees].
  
• Population - Decadal (1900 through 2000) human population statistics from the US Census.
  
• Water Area - area of county permanently under water [km2].

 

• Land Use -- A current source for this data is the US Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).

   

  • Cropland - total cropland [hectares].
    
  • Cropland Idle - land in cover and soil improvement crops as well as completely idle cropland [hectares].
  • Farmland - land in farms [hectares].
  • Pastureland - Land used primarily for the production of forage plants for livestock grazing [hectares].

     

 

• Livestock Populations - These 1990 estimates are the mean of 1987 and 1992 USDA Census of Agriculture data [http://www.census.gov/econ/www/agrimenu.html].
  
  
  • Cattle - County population of dairy plus beef cattle.  Nationally, there are about 42,000,000 cows and heifers that have calved, 32,000,000 beef cows, and a total of 95,000,000 cattle and calves.
    
  • Fowl - County population of hens plus broilers plus turkeys.  Nationally, there are about 800,000,000 broilers, 300,000,000 laying hens, and 75,000,000 turkeys.
    
  • Hogs - County population of hogs and pigs. Nationally, there are about 55,000,000 hogs and pigs.
    
  • Horses - County population of horses and ponies.  Nationally, there are about 2,200,000 horses and ponies.
    
  • Sheep - County population of sheep and lambs.  Nationally, there are about 11,000,000 sheep and lambs.

  
  

• Soil Properties - Our source for the Soil organic carbon (SOC), clay content, and bulk density data was US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) [Imhoff JC, Carsel RF, Kittle JR, Hummel PR (1990) Data base analyzer and parameter estimator (DBAPE) interactive computer program user's manual. EPA/600/3-89/083, USEPA Environ. Res. Lab. Athens, GA 30613-7799].  They worked from a database developed by the Soil Conservation Service (now Natural Resource Conservation Service) [USDA Soil Conservation Service (1985) User manual for interactive soils databases: nation soil survey area database, soil interpretations record database, and plant name database. USDA SCS, Fort Collins, CO].  To find this and similar data now, visit the National Soils Data Access Facility web site [http://www.statlab.iastate.edu/soils/nsdaf/].
  
  Our source for the pH data was the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Digital Soil Map of the World and Derived Soil Properties, Version 3.5, Nov. 1995, original scale 1:5 000 000).  See [http://www.fao.org/] for general FAO information and see [http://www.fao.org/landandwater/agll/dsmw.htm] for details on the soils data.  We printed a pH map for the US, overlaid a state boundaries map, and then read off values for each region of each state.  The coarse resolution of the map meant that most counties (and even many states) had only a single pH value.
  
  High and low values are reported for each county, and represent the range in a particular soil property found in the county.  Many counties have only a single value and it is reported as both the high and the low value.  Values are from the database surface soil layer (defined as either 'the plow layer' or 'the A, E, Ab, and EB horizons of the solum').  Values are based only on soils for agricultural lands in the county, not all soils.
  
  
  • Bulk Density High/Low - Soil bulk density [g C/cm3 or Mg soil/m3].
    
  • Clay High/Low - Fraction of soil particles in clay class (< 2 microns in diameter??).
    
  • Organic Carbon High/Low - Soil organic carbon content [g C/g soil].
    
  • Soil pH - Soil pH.
    

   

   

Data Providers:

Changsheng Li and Steve Frolking, Complex Systems Research Center, Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space, Morse Hall, University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire, USA. Ph: 603.862.1792, Fax: 603.862.0188, Email: steve.frolking@unh.edu.

Last Data Update:

7/30/2005

Last Doc. Updated:

7/30//2005

Doc. Updated By:

Denise Blaha

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