The US Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), launched a collection of interactive maps to allow data users to access key Census of Agriculture information. The Census of Agriculture, taken only once every five years (and most recently in 2022), is a complete count of US farms and ranches and the people who operate them.
The newly redesigned Ag Census Web Maps application offers the public access to maps and accompanying data to help visualize, download and analyze Census of Agriculture data down to the county level. The application assembles maps and statistics from the 2022 Census of Agriculture in five broad categories - crops and plants, economics, farms, livestock and animals, and producers - as well as associated subcategories.
"The Census of Agriculture is unique in the amount of agriculture data it provides," said NASS Pacific Regional Director Gary Keough. "The Ag Census Web Maps application allows users to visualize, download and analyze ag census data down to the county level."
An Ag Census Web Maps user can: select a map to display from any of the general categories and associated subcategories; create maps showing the variation in a single data item across the country (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 US county-level dataset of mapped values for all categories and more. The resulting products give producers, agribusinesses, policymakers, community planners and the general public easy access to factors that affect agriculture and producers in more than 3,000 counties across the country.
NASS has also made available on its website a range of new products related to the 2022 ag census: Market Value of Ag Products Rankings; State and County Profiles; Congressional District Profiles and Rankings; the Race, Ethnicity, and Gender Profiles; the Watersheds report; and the American Indian Reservations Report. In addition, the 2022 Puerto Rico Census of Agriculture data were released July 18 and can be viewed on NASS's ag census web page.
Upcoming ag census releases include the Specialty Crops publication on Oct. 17 and Zip Code Tabulations on Nov. 7. Other products to be released this fall include additional ag census Highlights publications found on the NASS website at www.nass.usda.gov/Publications/Highlights. Census of Agriculture Highlights cover topics such as producer demographics, commodity specifics, and more.
Spanning more than six million data points about America's farms and ranches and the people who operate them, the full ag census report can be accessed at nass.usda.gov/AgCensus. Ag census data can also be found in NASS's searchable online database, Quick Stats.
In preparation for the 2027 Census of Agriculture, NASS is already asking for content change suggestions and for new producers who did not receive a 2022 Census of Agriculture questionnaire last year to sign up to be counted in future censuses and surveys. Both forms can be found at nass.usda.gov.