Farm Program Acres: Documentation

Overview Mapping Tool Download Data Documentation

• Scope
• Mapping Tool
• Data Items

This mapping application functions best in Internet Explorer (version 6.0 or later).

Scope

This data product allows you to download and map county-level farm program and planted acreage data. Data are provided for 2,928 counties that have at least one base acre for at least one commodity. Blank or zero values indicate that the data item is not available for that county for that year. Users can manipulate the data to illustrate the share of commodity base acreage planted. Farm program and planted acreage data are available for the nine major program crops (corn, grain sorghum, barley, oats, wheat, rice, upland cotton, peanuts, and soybeans). Planted acreage data is limited to the 2,928 counties that report base acres. Farm program data are also available for minor oilseeds (sunflower, rapeseed, canola, safflower, flaxseed, mustard, crambe, and sesame).

Available data include:

• Program acres from USDA's Farm Service Agency (FSA):
• Production Flexibility Contract acres under the 1996 Farm Act, by commodity,
• Base acres designated under the 2002 Farm Act, by commodity,
• Base acres updated to 1998-2001 plantings under the 2002 Farm Act, by commodity, and
• State- and county-level direct and counter-cyclical program yields for 2002, by commodity.
• Acreage from USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS):
• Planted acreage (annual), and
• Cropland acreage from the 2002 and 2007 Censuses of Agriculture.

Note that data are unavailable for Hawaii.

You can make and customize:

• maps
• tables

Mapping Tool

To generate a map or table, you must select:

• One of 12 data categories, which include base acres, Production Flexibility Contract acres, planted acres, and State- and county-level direct and counter-cyclical program yields;
• Commodity and year, which vary by data category selected; and
• State. To generate a national map, select "All States."

Then select one of the following options:

• Map to county, which will present the data in a county-level map;
• Map to cropland, which will map the data to the cropland portions of each county;
• View table, which presents the county-level data in an html table; or
• Download table, which delivers the data in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.

Click "Go" to generate your selected map or table.

Note that the graduated color classes used in the maps are represented in the map legend by break values for each range and, thus, seem to have overlapping numbers. For example, the range "50 to 80" is from 50.1 up to 80.0 and the range "80 to 100" is from 80.1 up to 100.0.

To zoom in on a specific area within a map, select "Zoom In" from the options directly above the map and then outline the area by holding the left mouse button down (a red line will appear around the area you have selected). When you release the mouse button, a new map will be generated.

To save the map, click on "Save or print map" in the upper right-hand corner of the map view (above the legend). The map and legend must be saved separately by right clicking on the two links provided in the map window. From the menu, click on "Save Target As..."

To print the map, in the map window, click on File in the navigation bar and then select Print.

Data Items

1/ PFC data represent PFC acres at the end of 2001 or the beginning of 2002.
2/ Under the 2002 Farm Act, farmers had the option to update payment acres to reflect 1998-2001 average plantings.
3/ County-level data on planted acreage are available for corn, grain sorghum, barley, oats, wheat, and soybeans in March, peanuts in May, and upland cotton and rice in June. Planted acreage data are limited to the 2,928 counties that report base acres.
4/ There are frequently more planted acres in a county than there are PFC or base acres. Thus, shares often exceed 100 percent. In counties with small amounts of PFC or base acres, the share planted can be over 10,000 percent.

FSA reports program data for 2,928 counties throughout the United States (excluding Hawaii).

NASS county-level planted acreage data varies by commodity and year. Because NASS uses sample surveys, it is not possible to publish information for all counties. NASS State Statistical Offices generally establish a minimum value for publication to avoid disclosure of individual operations. County-level estimates vary by commodity and year. In the database planted acres for wheat reflects the total for "All wheat" when reported by NASS. If NASS does not report a total for all wheat planted, but reports data for durum, spring, or winter wheat plantings, data base totals reflect the sum of durum, spring and/or winter wheat plantings.

The U.S. Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology publishes FIPS (Federal Information Processing Standards) codes.

Check with these agencies for any recent data updates.