View from the Cab: More from the census
By Kent Casson
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) released the Congressional District Profiles and Rankings from the 2022 Census of Agriculture.
This summary presents data by congressional district from the 118th Congress that includes land, farms, market value of agricultural products sold, rankings and producer characteristics.
“Agriculture is a huge driving force in the overall Illinois economy and there is tremendous interest within each congressional district,” said Mark Schleusener, Illinois State Statistician. “After the redistricting, as a result of the 2020 population census, the 2022 Congressional District (CD) Profiles will not compare to the 2017 CD Profiles, so a new important baseline will be established with these estimates.”
NASS released the Census of Agriculture State and County Profiles on March 27. Upcoming releases include the Race, Ethnicity, and Gender Profiles on June 28; the Watersheds report on July 24; the American Indian Reservations Report on Aug. 29; and Zip Code Tabulations on Nov. 7. All these products will be available at nass.usda.gov/Publications/AgCensus/2022.
Other products to be released this summer and fall include additional census highlights publications found on the NASS website at www.nass.usda.gov/Publications/Highlights. Census of Agriculture Highlights cover topics such as information about producer demographics, commodity-specific information and more.
Data from the 2022 Census of Agriculture, collected directly from producers, found a continued decline in farms and farmland and a rise in value of ag products sold. Another continuing trend included a rise in internet access. Illinois went from 77% in 2017 to 79% in 2022.
Spanning more than 6 million data points about America’s farms and ranches and the people who operate them, the full ag census report can be found at nass.usda.gov/AgCensus. Ag census data can also be found in NASS’s searchable online database, Quick Stats.
In preparation for the 2027 Census of Agriculture, NASS is already asking for content change suggestions and for new producers who did not receive a 2022 Census of Agriculture form last year to sign up to be counted in future censuses and surveys. Both forms can be found at nass.usda.gov.
