County-Level Agricultural Expenses from the 1987 Census of Agriculture

Estimates of agricultural expenses in thousands of dollars for counties in the conterminous United States, derived from the 1987 Census of Agriculture. The data is formatted as a GIS coverage with county boundaries sourced from the 1970 National Atlas. Some information from the 1982 Census of Agriculture was also included.

Use Cases

• Estimate regional agricultural expenses based on county-level expense estimates.
• Produce visual displays and map relative amounts of agricultural expenses across broad regions.
• Analyze changes in agricultural spending patterns by comparing data from 1987 and 1982 census years.

Strengths

• Data is sourced from the official 1987 Census of Agriculture.
• County boundaries are derived from the authoritative National Atlas of the United States.
• Estimates are generated from surveys of all farms selling $1,000 or more of agricultural products.

Limitations

• Data is from 1987 and 1982, which may limit relevance for contemporary analysis.
• Row count and column-level documentation are unknown.
• The description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.

Provenance

Source

U.S. Department of Commerce, Census of Agriculture.

Collection Method

An automated procedure processed raw census data into ARC/INFO coverage attributes.

Time Range

Primarily 1987, with some 1982 data.

Geography

Counties in the conterminous United States.