Ag History

This is being made available for general use in teaching and research in agricultural economics. Accumulating a database of this size and maintaining a reasonable level of accuracy in the various data series is a daunting task. Data revisions are made frequently as analysts obtain new information.

Different publications report different numbers because publication frequently occurs before data revisions can be incorporated. And, of course, occasionally transcription errors occur. My motivation for accumulating and maintaining this database is that over the past several years I have had need for a variety of statistical information related to the U.S. agricultural sector -- and particularly for studying the past history of this sector.

In fact, this database was the source of much of the information in my book entitled Economic Trends in U.S. Agriculture and Food Systems Since World War II (Iowa State University Press, 2001). Since a very general database such as this was not available elsewhere, I constructed it for my own use and have continued to maintain it over the years.

My hope is that other individuals will find it useful even if it is not perfect. If so, my efforts will have been justly rewarded. The document accompanying the database on the web page indicates how the user may interact with me if she or he notes any errors or anomalies that need to be addressed in subsequent revisions. If this database proves to be useful, my intention is to revise it annually in late spring or early summer.

As can be appreciated, a wide variety of sources have been, and are, used to obtain the data provided here. It would be impracticable to list sources for each of the nearly 1200 variables in this database, but the document accompanying the database on the web page provides considerable detail on data sources. This same web page also provides definitions of several of the variables contained in the database.