Historic Census of Agriculture

Nan HylandJoy PaulsonAlbert R. Mann LibraryCornell UniversityHistoric Census of AgricultureUSDA Economics Statistics and Market Information SystemPartnership between USDA Economic Agencies and Cornells Mann Library since 1993Currently Has Reports and Datasets from AMS, ERS, FAS, NASS and WAOBMore than 3000 titles (reports and datasets)Past and Present Scanning ProjectsNASS historical reportsERS historical reportsWAOB historical reports (complete)Census of Agriculture (1987, 1982, 1978, 1974, 1969, 1964,1959, 1954, 1945, 1935 and 1925)Census of AgricultureTaken Every Five YearsCovers Land Use, Ownership, Operator Characteristics, Production Practices, Income and Expenditures Uniform Agricultural Data for Every County in the United StatesFilled Out and Mailed in or Completed OnlineIndividual Information is Obscured for PrivacyA farm is any place from which $1,000 or more of agricultural products were produced and sold, or normally would have been sold, during the Census year.History of the Census of AgricultureFirst taken in 1840 as part of the decennial censusPart of the decennial census through 1950. These are available at http://www.agcensus.usda.gov/Publications/Historical_Publications/index.asp1925, 1935, 1945 taken separately1992, 1997, 2002, 2007 were tabulated electronically and are available online at http://www.agcensus.usda.gov/Responsibility for the Census of Agriculture transferred to NASS in 1997

IssuesNumerical Data OCR is DifficultNeeded New Interface (didnt fit into the existing system as neatly as the historical reports)Browsing Capability for 1987 and 1982 is CompleteSearching Will be Added (OCR on the table headers)Census of Agriculture (1987, 1982, 1978, 1974, 1969, 1964,1959, 1954, 1945, 1935 and 1925)

Digitization ProcessOutsourcing the scanning

Text scanned as 600 dpi bitonal (I bit) images

Grey-scale pages scanned at 300 dpi (8 bit) images

Color pages scanned as 300 dpi (24 bit) imagesPost-scanning work and Progress to DatePDFs made for each table

PDFs are OCRd to allow searching

1987, 1982, 1978, and 1974 have been scanned

PDF creation complete for 1987 and 1982. Its underway for 1978

1969 is currently being scannedPrototype 1987 and 1982http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/AgCensus/homepage.do