United States Department of Agriculture

Download Data and Documentation

The Ag Census Web Maps include maps of statistics based on data from the 2012 U.S. Census of Agriculture. These data were collected at the farm level and summarized to the county level for publication. The Ag Census Web Maps provide U.S. county-level data for the maps. The data are grouped into five worksheets (Crops and Plants, Economics, Farms, Livestock and Animals, Operators) within a Microsoft® Excel spreadsheet that is available for easy download. The documentation of the spreadsheet data includes a list of the mapped statistics available within each category. In the downloadable Excel spreadsheets:

• All statistics are county-level measures.
• The numeric FIPS and character FIPSTEXT fields contain a county code (combined state and county codes) which in most cases is the same as the county FIPS (Federal Information Processing Standards) code, except for some county-level entities in Alaska.
• The Variable Lookup worksheet links a MapID field value used in the data file with a map title. The MapID field value is used as a prefix for data field names to identify the data for a specific map.
• A “(D)” in the <MapID>_valueText field indicates data withheld to avoid disclosing data for individual farms. For withheld data, the <MapID>_classRange field will be populated, but the<MapID>_valueNumeric field will be empty.
• The County Names worksheet lists each county code and its associated county name, state name and type of county entity.

The mapped data are in the form of percentage, average, or ratio values. You can access the 2012 Census of Agriculture data on which they are based through the NASS online database Quick Stats. For definitions and explanations of specific data items see Appendix B. General Explanation and Census of Agriculture Report Form.

You can access a larger set of static maps in the 2012 Census of Agriculture Atlas of the United States (Ag Atlas). The original choropleth static maps and the Ag Census Web Maps have the same class ranges except for the map "Average Number of Cattle and Calves per 100 Acres of All Land in Farms: 2012." Some counties may be assigned to different class ranges because the static Ag Atlas maps use rounded data values and the Ag Census Web Maps use truncated data values. Many dot density static maps in the Ag Atlas were converted to choropleth maps for inclusion in the Ag Census Web Maps application. The choropleth change maps show significance of change, whereas the dot density change maps show increase/decrease in 2012 vs. 2007 summary data. Refer to the Readme worksheet in the .xls file for more information.

You can download the Ag Census Web Maps data file and documentation below. In opening the .xls file, you may encounter a security login window. You do not need to enter a user name and password. To dismiss the security login window and open the .xls file, simply click on the X in the corner of the security login window.

Download Data

Current Version of Data Set	Downloads	Last Updated
Data Download		07/17/2015
Documentation		07/17/2015