U.S.D.A. Reports

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Data Sets - General Information

The USDA Economics and Statistics System includes nearly 200 data sets published by the USDA's Economic Research Service, National Agricultural Statistics Service and the World Agricultural Outlook Board . The data describe all aspects of domestic and international agriculture, agricultural economics, and rural affairs. Files are included tables extracted from some of the USDA's most popular publications about crops, dairy and poultry production, specialty agriculture, state and national farm income, costs of production, world agriculture trends and indicators, and much, much more.

Most of these data sets are Lotus 1-2-3 format files that can be imported into your favorite spreadsheet or statistical package for easy analysis. Some of the files are in ASCII text format or are packaged with easy-to-use software that you can install on your IBM-compatible computer. With the exception of a few data sets that are bundled with custom MSDOS viewing software, all files can be retrieved and viewed using any computer platform (Unix, Macintosh, IBM-compatible, etc.) To learn about using these and other file types, refer to USDA Help and USDA FAQs.

Each data set is accompanied by a README file that includes a description of the data and a list of tables. It also includes the name and phone number of the USDA data specialist. You should contact these specialists when you have a content-related question, such as units of measure, survey methods, missing data, etc.

Information provided by the
USDA Economics and Statistics System
Albert R. Mann Library, Cornell University