Agricultural statistics of the USA 1962

Washington: United States Department Of Agriculture. National Agricultural Statistics Service. United States Government printing office, 1963. — 749 p.

Agricultural Statistics is published each year to meet the diverse needs for a reliable reference book on agricultural production, supplies, consumption, facilities, costs, and returns. Its tables of annual data cover a wide variety of facts in forms suited to most common use.

Inquiries concerning more current or more detailed data, past and prospective revisions, or the statistical methodology used should be addressed directly to the agency credited with preparing the table. Most of the data were prepared or compiled in the U.S. Department of Agriculture. A few tables were prepared in other Government agencies.

The historical series in this volume have been expanded to provide a more complete reference than in any other recent edition. Volumes with similar historical series were issued in 1957, 1952, and 1942. With the longer series carried here, there should be a few occasions for the user to refer back to earlier issues. Historical tables showing totals for the United States begin with 1866 for the principal crops and with 1867 for January 1 livestock numbers. Most other basic tables showing national totals begin with 1929, 1934, 1939 or 1944 (livestock and poultry tables 1 year later) depending in part on the relative need for a long series.

Space in this issue is not sufficient to carry all series back to their beginning but in general, enough years have been included in each case to meet the needs of most users. It is expected that succeeding issues will carry historical series for fewer years, but with references to the 1962 volume.

Agricultural data for Alaska and Hawaii are included in the United States totals in the appropriate tables, where indicated, particularly in chapters VIII, IX, and X. Only limited information is available in Alaskan agricultural production. Statistics for Hawaii are generally given in separate tables in the commodity chapters, or in chapter XI.

U.S. foreign agricultural trade statistics include Government as well as non-Government shipments of merchandise from all the United States and territories to foreign countries. They do not include U.S. shipments to the U.S. Armed Forces abroad for their own use or shipments between the States and U.S. Territories. The world summaries of production and trade of major farm products are prepared by the U. S. Department of Agriculture from reports of the U.S. Department of Commerce, official statistics of foreign Governments, other foreign source materials, reports of U.S. Agricultural Attaches and Foreign Service Officers and the result of office research.

Three types of data are included in this volume. Statistics presented in many of the tables represent actual counts of the items covered. Most of the statistics relating to foreign trade and to Government programs, such as numbers and amounts of loans made to farmers, and amounts of loans made by the Commodity Credit Corporation, etc., are data of this type. A large number of other tables, however contain data that are estimates made by the Department of Agriculture, which in many cases are supplemented by a third type of data obtained in census enumerations.

The estimates for crops, livestock, and poultry made by the U.S. Department of Agriculture are prepared mainly to give timely current State and national totals and averages. They are based on "bench mark" data supplied by the Censuses of Agriculture taken every 5 years and on sample data supplied by farmers and by people who do business with farmers, together with check data from other sources. Being estimates, they are subject to revisions as more data become available from commercial or Government sources. Unless otherwise indicated, the totals for the United States shown in the various tables on acreage, production, numbers, price, value, supplies, and disposition are based on official Department estimates. They exclude States for which no official estimates are compiled.

Revisions of basic series from 1954 to 1960, based on a review of the 1959 Census and other check data, have been completed and are carried in this volume. Many of these series had been revised, and were carried in the 1961 issue, but this is the first volume reflecting such revisions in all series.

For census years, many tables carry both census totals and this Department's estimates. Generally, where there are appreciable differences between the census totals and this Department's final estimates, the processes of checking and revising estimates have indicated that some sources provide more nearly complete information about some items than the census has been able to obtain. For example, this Department's estimates of tobacco production can be considered more precise than census totals, because the estimates are revised in line with actual production as shown independently by Internal Revenue records and State records of tobacco sales. Sugar beet and sugarcane production and acreage estimates are adjusted to quantities actually reported by sugar factories. Check information on peanuts and rice is available from processors for areas sometimes including several States. In a number of other instances allowances have been made for known incompleteness of coverage by the census.

For livestock and poultry, the Department's estimates of inventory numbers relate to January
1. Most recent censuses have not enumerated numbers on that date. The decennial censuses have usually related to April 1, with the average date of enumeration falling somewhat later. The 1945 census was taken as of January 1, but with the trying wartime conditions, was delayed over a considerable length of time in a number of States with the result that reported inventory numbers did not always represent the actual January 1 inventory. The 1950 census was taken as of April 1 and the 1954 and 1959 censuses were taken in October and November. These situations have made it necessary to adjust census totals to a January 1 equivalent basis, taking into account changes that occurred between the January 1 date and the actual date of enumeration.

Chapters:
Introduction.
Grains.
Cotton, sugar, and tobacco.
Oilseeds, fats and oils.
Frults, vegetables, melons, tree nuts, and beverage crops.
Hay, seeds, and minor field crops.
Cattle, hogs, and sheep.
Dairy and poultry products.
Farm resources, income, and expenses.
Agricultural conservation and forestry statistics.
Consumption and family living.
Miscellaneous agricultural statistics.
Index.