The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) will release the final results of the 2012 Census of Agriculture on May 2, at noon ET via a live webcast event. During the webcast, NASS officials will share wide-ranging information about what agricultural products were raised in the United States in 2012, and examine where, how and by whom they were grown. National, state and county level data will be available, including information that is only collected and reported as part of the every-five-year census. To make accessing the information easier than ever, NASS created a number of online tools.
“We are pleased to announce the upcoming release of the Census of Agriculture, as well as new tools to make the information easier to use than ever before,” said NASS Administrator Dr. Cynthia Clark. “The scope of information down to the county level will be invaluable, showing trends, changes and innovations in agriculture over time. This highly-anticipated data will help farmers, ranchers, policymakers, agribusiness and a host of others make decisions for the future.”
The census provides a wide range of demographic, economic, land, and crop and livestock production information as well as first-time or expanded data. Topics are as varied as:
- Biomass and renewable energy production, conservation and other on-farm practices, and agroforestry;
- Equine and specialty items as diverse as horseradish, rhubarb, bison and alpaca;
- Internet access, value of production, income and expenses, years farming, and farm ownership;
- Marketing and distribution methods, value added products, organic production, and direct sales to consumers
To simplify access to these data, NASS created a number of online tools for people to find and use data of interest. The complete data series will be available on May 2 after 12:00 noon ET in multiple formats from www.agcensus.usda.gov, including:
- Quick Stats 2.0 – an online database to retrieve customized tables. For those new to this tool, a new tutorial video provides easy-to-follow instructions.
- API – a tool for developers.
- Desktop Data Query Tool- a downloadable desktop tool to analyze data without Internet access once you have downloaded and installed this tool.
Source:USDA