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Introduction

The 2007 Census of Agriculture was conducted by the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service to obtain agricultural statistics for each county, State, and the Nation. These data have been published in the Volume 1 Geographic Area Series. In addition, census data were used to prepare an agricultural profile for each Illinois Senate and House legislative district. Farms were assigned to districts using the U.S. Congressional District profile methodology, which was based on the principal county of operation.

Background

The census definition of a farm is any place from which $1,000 or more of agricultural products were produced and sold, or normally would have been sold, during the census year. The definition has changed nine times since it was established in 1850. The current definition was first used for the 1974 Census of Agriculture and has been used in each subsequent agriculture census. This definition is consistent with the definition used for current USDA surveys.

The calendar year 2007 was the reference period for the 2007 Census of Agriculture except for the following which were measured as of December 31, 2007: livestock, poultry, and machinery and equipment inventories; market value of land and buildings; and grain storage capacity. All published tables, profiles, and complete information on current and previous censuses can be accessed on the Internet at www.nass.usda.gov/il by clicking on "Census of Agriculture for Illinois."

Contents

Each two-page profile contains farm characteristics, graphs of current data, rankings for the district within the State and selected economic and operator characteristics.


Note: Not all Illinois State House and Senate profiles are available. In some cases, profiles are suppressed in order to avoid disclosure of individual operations.