County-Level Nitrogen and Phosphorus from Fertilizer for the Conterminous U.S., 1987-2012

County-level estimates of nitrogen and phosphorus from commercial fertilizer for farm and nonfarm uses across the conterminous United States. The data spans 26 years from 1987 through 2012, with estimates derived from AAPFCO sales data and allocated using Census of Agriculture expenditures and population density. The dataset was compiled by John W. Brakebill and builds on methods from a 2012 U.S. Geological Survey report.

Use Cases

• Modeling watershed-scale nutrient pollution based on county-level fertilizer application estimates.
• Analyzing long-term trends in agricultural fertilizer use across U.S. counties.
• Studying correlations between fertilizer application, census data, and population density.
• Assessing the environmental impact of nonfarm fertilizer use in suburban and urban areas.

Strengths

• Covers a 26-year time range from 1987 to 2012.
• Provides estimates for both farm and nonfarm fertilizer uses.
• Allocates state-level data to counties using specific weights from the Census of Agriculture and population density.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2012-5207 and Association of American Plant Food Control Officials (AAPFCO) sales data.

Collection Method

State-level estimates derived from AAPFCO data, then allocated to counties using Census of Agriculture expenditures (farm) and effective population density (nonfarm).

Time Range

1987 through 2012

Freshness

Data covers up to 2012; last platform update date is unknown.

Geography

Conterminous United States at the county level.