Natural Resources & Environment

• Conservation Practices & Programs
• Cropping Practices
• Environmental Quality
• Fertilizer Use
• Invasive Species Management
• Irrigation & Water Use
• Land Use & Tenure
• Manure Management
• Organic Agriculture
• Pest Management
• Rural/Natural Amenities
• Soil Conservation
• Water Quality

Commodity Costs and Returns Data

USDA has estimated annual production costs and returns and published accounts for major field crop and livestock enterprises since 1975. Cost and return estimates are reported for the U.S. and major production regions for corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton, grain sorghum, rice, peanuts, oats, barley, sugarbeets, tobacco, milk, hogs, and cow-calf. These cost and return accounts are historical accounts based on the actual costs incurred by producers during each year.
12/12/2007

Confined Animal and Manure Nutrient Data System

This system provides state and National data about confined animal numbers and associated manure nutrients. These data are based on analysis of the data collected for the 1982, 1987, 1992, and 1997 Censuses of Agriculture done by the Economic Research Service and Natural Resources Conservation Service in conjunction with the National Agricultural Statistics Service.
8/22/2001

Environmental Quality Incentives Program Data

Data provide an overview of the conservation practices being funded, estimates of unit costs for the most commonly contracted conservation practices, and a comparison of unit costs for different contract sizes. All results are presented at the national level, by ERS Farm Resource Regions, and for Farm Production Regions. A State-level breakdown of the allocation of EQIP funds is also provided. All data are available for two time periods, 1997-2000 and 2001-03.
10/17/2005 11:00:00 AM

Major Land Uses

This data series contains estimates for major land uses in the United States, by State, for 1945-2002. The series is the only consistent historical accounting of major land uses, public and private, in all 50 States. The latest inventory of U.S. major land uses finds that total cropland area in 2002 was 442 million acres, its lowest level since 1945. Several other classes and subclasses of land are considered, including forest, pasture and range, urban, and miscellaneous and special uses such as parks and recreational areas. The annual cropland portion of the series has been consistently maintained since 1910 and has recently been updated through 2006.
89003 12/21/2007 2:00:00 PM

Normalized Prices

The Economic Research Service (ERS) annually calculates normalized prices for evaluating alternative development and management plans for water and related land resources. Normalized prices smooth out the effects of short-term fluctuations so that plans can be evaluated on a more realistic basis rather than using current prices, which may be lower or higher than normal because of short-lived phenomena.
10/19/2007 10:30:00 AM

Organic Farmgate and Wholesale Prices

This data set provides farmgate and wholesale prices for select organic and conventional fruits and vegetables, wholesale prices for organic and conventional poultry (broilers) and eggs, as well as f.o.b. and spot prices for organic grain and feedstuffs. Prices are based on those reported by USDA Agricultural Marketing Service Market News, Organic Food Business News, and USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service.
3/25/2008

Organic Production

In 2005, for the first time, all 50 States in the U.S. had some certified organic farmland. This data set surveys organic operations and acreage for crops and livestock (over 40 commodities), with some tables dating back to 1992. Data for 2000-2005 include the number of certified operations, by State.
12/15/2006 10:30:00 AM

Population Interaction Zones for Agriculture (PIZA)

This data product provides information useful for projections of future changes in land use. ERS has created a system to classify remaining farmland into "population-interaction zones for agriculture" (PIZA). The PIZA codes are derived from a classification scheme that indexes small geographic areas (the contiguous 48 States divided up into five-kilometer grid cells) according to the size and proximity of population concentrations. These "population-interaction indexes" are designed to provide a cardinal measure of the potential interaction between nearby urban-related population and agricultural production activities in each grid cell.
6/1/2005

U.S. Fertilizer Use and Price

This product brings together 1960-2006 data on fertilizer consumption in the United States by plant nutrient and major selected product, as well as consumption of mixed fertilizers, secondary nutrients, and micronutrients. Share of crop area receiving fertilizer and fertilizer use per receiving acre, by nutrient, are presented for the major producing States for corn, cotton, soybeans, and wheat. Additional data include fertilizer farm prices and indices of wholesale fertilizer price.
10/5/2007 9:30:00 AM

Western Irrigated Agriculture

This data product summarizes the farm-structural characteristics for irrigated farms in the 17 Western States based on USDA's 1998 Farm and Ranch Irrigation Survey.
5/28/2004 10:30:00 AM