County-Level U.S. Agricultural Census and Geographic Data from 1972-1998

27 years of annual crop acreage, production, and yield estimates for 3,111 counties and independent cities in the contiguous United States. The National Agricultural Statistics Service compiled this data, which also includes livestock, geography, management practices, and soil properties from the early 1990s. The dataset was last updated in 1998.

Use Cases

• Model historical crop yield trends using annual county-level acreage and production data from 1972 to 1998.
• Analyze relationships between soil properties, geographic features, and agricultural management practices from the 1992 data collection.
• Assess livestock population distributions across counties for supply chain or environmental impact studies.
• Correlate county-level geography and population data with historical agricultural productivity.
• Use land use variables to drive agro-ecosystem models like DNDC for greenhouse gas production assessments.

Strengths

• 27-year temporal coverage (1972-1998) for crop statistics.
• Data spans 3,111 counties and independent cities across the contiguous U.S.
• Includes seven integrated datasets covering crops, livestock, geography, soil, and management.

Limitations

• Primary crop data ends in 1998, making it temporally stale for contemporary analysis.
• Supplemental data on livestock, soil, and management is primarily from a single year (1992).
• No data for Alaska, Hawaii, or U.S. territories, limiting geographic scope.

Provenance

Source

National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Collection Method

Official county-based agricultural statistics and estimates derived from public national databases.

Time Range

1972 to 1998 for crop data; early 1990s for supplemental datasets.

Freshness

null

Geography

Contiguous United States (48 states + District of Columbia).