No. 923. FARMER COOPERATIVES-ESTIMATED BUSINESS, BY COMMODITY: 1965 [Preliminary. See headnote, table 922]

1 Represents value at the first level at which cooperatives transact business for farmers. Adjusted for duplication resulting from intercooperative business.

2 Because many associations are engaged in more than one type of business, these totals are less than the sum of associations handling individual items or performing individual services.

Charges for services related to marketing or purchasing but not included in the volume reported for these activities.

Source: Dept. of Agriculture, Farmer Cooperative Service; annual report, Statistics of Farmer Cooperatives. No. 924. FARMER COOPERATIVES-NUMBER, MEMBERSHIPS, AND BUSINESS, BY

B

No. XL. FARM OUTPUT INDEXES AND ACREAGE HARVESTED: 1950 TO 1966

[1957-59-100. See table 925]

INDEX

120

115

110

Crops (Index)

105

Livestock (Index)

100

MILLION ACRES

350

340

330

320

310

No. XLI. AGRICULTURAL EXPORTS OUTSIDE AND UNDER GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS: 1950 TO 1966

Source of figs. XL and XLI: Charts prepared by Dept. of Commerce, Bureau of the Census. Data from Dept. of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.

Section 24

Agriculture-Production, Marketing, and Trade

This section presents statistics concerning farm output and marketings, trade in agricultural products, and data relative to specific crops, livestock, poultry, and livestock and poultry products.

The principal sources of these data are reports of the decennial and quinquennial Censuses of Agriculture conducted by the Bureau of the Census, and three annual reports, Crop Production, Crop Values, and Agricultural Statistics, issued by the Statistical Reporting Service, Department of Agriculture. Other important sources include Current Industrial Reports and Cotton Production and Distribution, issued by the Bureau of the Census; Cotton and Cottonseed Production and annual livestock summaries, issued by the Statistical Reporting Service; and various Situation reports, issued by the Economic Research Service, Department of Agriculture. Sources of current data on agricultural exports and imports include Foreign Agricultural Trade, also published by the Economic Research Service, and the foreign trade reports of the Bureau of the Census, particularly the series on imports (FT 125) and on exports (FT 410). Historical data are available in Foreign Commerce and Navigation of the United States, issued by the Bureau of the Census. Statistics on other aspects of agriculture may be found in section 23, Agriculture-Farms, Land, and Finances.

Crop reporting.-Annual agricultural statistics of a wide variety have been issued by the Department of Agriculture for over 100 years. The 43 field offices of the Statistical Reporting Service collect data from voluntary reporters. State estimates and other information are sent to the Crop Reporting Board of the Statistical Reporting Service where, after review, reports are issued containing State, regional, and United States data.

Statistics compiled by the Statistical Reporting Service on crops, livestock and livestock products, agricultural prices, farm employment, and other related subjects are based mainly on data obtained through mail questionnaires. The basic information is obtained from nearly three-fourths of a million reporters, mostly farmers, who report for their own and nearby farms on some 80 crops and scores of other items pertaining to agricultural production and farm family living. The most extensive of the current survey data are gathered by the Statistical Reporting Service from questionnaires handled in cooperation with the Post Office Department through its rural mail carriers. These surveys obtain livestock data in June and December and crop acreage data in October.

In the data prepared by the Statistical Reporting Service, estimates of crop acreage and production for the census years are set up currently from available information. Later, if necessary, these data are revised to a level based largely on the Census enumerations. The estimates for intercensal years are based on sample data obtained each year from individual reporters. This information is supplemented by other data, such as State assessors' enumerations of agricultural information, reports of carlot shipments, warehouse receipts, local surveys, personal observations by field statisticians, and reports from other sources having a knowledge of farming, agricultural production, and processing. Cotton acreage and production are also based on sample data and, in large measure, on ginning information gathered by the Bureau of the Census.

Livestock. Each Census of Agriculture from 1840 through 1900 was taken as of June 1. The six decennial censuses since then were taken as of April 15, 1910; January 1, 1920; April 1, 1930, 1940, and 1950; and the fall of 1959.

The 1925, 1935, and 1945 quinquennial Censuses of Agriculture were taken as of January 1; the 1954 and 1964 Censuses were taken in the fall. Comparison of livestock inventories from census to census is seriously affected by changes in date of enumeration. From January to April, and from October and November to January, material changes occur in numbers on hand in most parts of the country, due to births, marketings, farm slaughter, etc. To obtain as much comparability as possible, the censuses taken in April either excluded recently born animals from the enumeration or provided for their enumeration in a separate age group. Volume II of U.S. Census of Agriculture: 1959 shows a complete history of the enumeration of livestock and analyzes comparability from census to census. For most kinds of domestic livestock, there are comparatively short cyclic fluctuations in numbers, even though the trend over a long period of time may be definitely in one direction.

Annual inventory numbers of livestock on farms and estimates of livestock, dairy, and poultry production prepared by the Department of Agriculture, are based on information from farmers, supplemented by State assessors' data and by records of brand inspections, rail and truck shipments, and slaughter. The level for these inventories is based largely on interpretations of quinquennial Census enumerations.

Farm prices. Information on prices received by farmers for products they sell are obtained by the Statistical Reporting Service of the Department of Agriculture from about 33,000 voluntary reporters, including farmers, local merchants, and handlers of agricultural products. Season average prices received by farmers are calculated by weighting midmonth prices by monthly sales during the crop marketing season, beginning with the first month in which a particular crop harvest begins.

Historical statistics.—Tabular headnotes provide cross-references, where applicable, to Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1957. See preface.

No. 925. FARM OUTPUT INDEXES AND ACREAGE OF 59 CROPS: 1940 to 1966 [Excludes Alaska and Hawali. See Historical Statistics, Colonial Times to 1957, series K 190-194 and K 254-264, for indexes on a 1947-49 base]

1 Measures annual volume of farm production available for eventual human use. Livestock and crops, as com. bined into total farm output, exclude value of feed other than pasture consumed, and hatching eggs, to avoid double counting of feed crops in both livestock and crop production and of hatching eggs as part of both poultry meat and egg production.

* Includes livestock products not shown separately, except horses and mules. Livestock production consists of 3 components: Constant-dollar value of pasture consumed, other feed consumed, and product-added in converting feed and pasture into livestock and products for human use. See footnote 1. Total constant dollar value of all crop production regardless of its final disposition. Includes production of hay seeds, pasture seeds, cover-crop seeds, and some miscellaneous crop production not shown.

Source: Dept. of Agriculture, Economic Research Service; annual report, Changes in Farm Production and Efficiency; and Statistical Reporting Service. In annual report, Agricultural Statistics.

No. 926. FARM LABOR-MAN-HOURS AND INDEX OF FARM OUTPUT: 1940 TO 1966 [Man-hours in billions; index, 1957-59-100. Excludes Alaska and Hawaii. See Historical Statistics, Colonial Times to 1957, series W 48-50, for indexes on a 1947-49 base]

1 Man-equivalent hours; represents time used by average adult males in performing farm operations. * Work on horses and mules included in farm maintenance.

Index of farm output (production available for human use) divided by index of man-hours used. Source: Dept. of Agriculture, Economic Research Service; annual report, Changes in Farm Production and Efficiency. In annual report, Agricultural Statistics.

No. 927. FARM LABOR-MAN-HOURS PER UNIT OF PRODUCTION, SELECTED CROPS AND LIVESTOCK: 1935-39 TO 1961-65

Excludes Alaska and Hawaii. See also Historical Statistics, Colonial Times to 1957, series K 87, K 92, and K 97]

1 Preliminary. 2 Man-hours per acre harvested, including preharvest work on acreages abandoned, grazed, and turned under. 3 Per acre planted and harvested.

Production includes beef produced as a byproduct of the milk cow enterprise.

Liveweight production. Per layer on farms Jan. 1.

Source: Dept. of Agriculture, Economic Research Service. In annual report, Agricultural Statistics.

1.3 0.8

2.7

247 079 06741