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Congress establishes the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The first Commissioner of Agriculture, Isaac Newton, lists seven duties for the new Department. The most important is gathering agricultural statistics. Crop reporters and field agents begin to play a vital role in the collection of agricultural data.
Agricultural statistics history
The Founding Period
1860–1899
1861
1861 - In his State of the Union address to Congress, President Abraham Lincoln says "Agriculture, confessedly the largest interest of the nation, has not a department nor a bureau, but a clerkship only, assigned to it in the government…Annual reports exhibiting the condition of our agriculture, commerce and manufactures would present a fund of information of great practical value to the country. While I make no suggestion as to details, I venture the opinion that an agricultural and statistical bureau might profitably be organized."
U.S. Population 1860 - 31,443,321 | Number of Farms 1860 - 2,044,077
1862
Division of Statistics 1863–1903
Isaac Newton
Commissioner of Agriculture
1862
1862 - On May 15, President Abraham Lincoln signed the law that created the Department of Agriculture and called it the "people’s department."
U.S. Population 1860 - 31,443,321 | Number of Farms 1860 - 2,044,077
1863
Division of Statistics 1863–1903
Lewis Bollman
Chief Statistician
1863–1865
1863 - The Department of Agriculture issues the first crop report on July 10. It includes information on crop conditions in the 21 states loyal to the Union and in the Nebraska Territory.
U.S. Population 1860 - 31,443,321 | Number of Farms 1860 - 2,044,077
1866
Division of Statistics 1863–1903
Jacob R. Dodge
Chief Statistician
1866–1878
1866 - The Department begins a regular reporting series on livestock numbers, monthly crop conditions, and final acreage, yield, and production estimates for principal crops.
U.S. Population 1860 - 31,443,321 | Number of Farms 1860 - 2,044,077
1876
Division of Statistics 1863–1903
Jacob R. Dodge
Chief Statistician
1866–1878
Charles Worthington
Chief Statistician
1879-1881
1876 - The Illinois field office publishes its first annual agricultural statistics bulletin, Illinois: Crops of 1876. The report includes data for various crops and livestock by county.
U.S. Population 1870 - 38,558,371 | Number of Farms 1870 - 2,659,985
1882
Division of Statistics 1863–1903
Jacob R. Dodge
Chief Statistician
1881–1893
1882 - Under the direction of the USDA’s Division of Statistics, states appoint part-time statistical agents who develop an independent corps of voluntary crop reporters.
U.S. Population 1880 - 50,155,783 | Number of Farms 1880 - 4,008,907
1890
Division of Statistics 1863–1903
Jacob R. Dodge
Chief Statistician
1881–1893
1890 - Herman Hollerith, a U.S. Census Bureau employee, develops the first punch card tabulation machine system. This electromechanical system punches, reads and sorts cards for tallying the massive amounts of data for the population census. Hollerith later forms his own company, which eventually merges to form the International Business Machines Corporation, otherwise known as IBM.
U.S. Population 1890 - 62,947,714 | Number of Farms 1890 - 4,564,641
1896
Division of Statistics 1863–1903
Henry A. Robinson
Chief Statistician
1893–1897
1896 - The list of voluntary crop reporters is expanded and renamed the Township List. The goal is to have one reporter for each agricultural township. The reports are sent directly to the Division of Statistics in Washington, D.C.; President Grover Cleveland institutes Rural Free Delivery, which enables thousands of Americans living in rural communities, including crop reporters, to receive and send mail through the Post Office Department.
U.S. Population 1890 - 62,947,714 | Number of Farms 1890 - 4,564,641
1899
Division of Statistics 1863–1903
John Hyde
Chief of the Bureau
of Statistics
1897–1905
1899 - USDA begins publishing the Crop Reporter as a means of communication between the Division of Statistics and the crop correspondents.
U.S. Population 1890 - 62,947,714 | Number of Farms 1890 - 4,564,641
Isaac Newton
Lewis Bollman
Jacob R. Dodge
