Library Guides: U.S. Data and Statistical Sources: Agriculture

Free Public Access to Government Information

Free public access to United States government documents in a federal depository library is guaranteed by law (44 USC §1911). While UC Berkeley houses one of the most comprehensive collections of U.S. government documents in the country, the Library is one of over a thousand Federal Depository Libraries across the United States, and one of several Federal Depository Libraries in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Census of Agriculture
Conducted every five years, the Census provides a detailed picture of U.S. farms and ranches and the people who operate them. Provides access to agricultural census data from 1840-present.
USDA Data and Statistics
Portal to the many statistical programs within the USDA.
USDA's National Agricultural Statistical Service (NASS)
NASS provides statistics and data from around the US. Allows quick access to current statistics by state.

AGRICOLA This link opens in a new window
Citations for articles on all aspects of agriculture. [1970 - present]
Indexes books, journal articles, audiovisual materials, state agricultural and USDA publications. Subjects include agriculture, agricultural economics, animal science, entomology, horticulture, nutrition, plant diseases, and soil science.

Data.gov's Agricultural Portal
Provides access to the free data from data.gov on agriculture.
National Historical Geographic Information System (NHGIS)
Find Agricultural Census information from 1840-1950 and GIS shapefiles. Sign up for a free account to download the data.

Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) This link opens in a new window
ICPSR contains a wide variety of agricultural data, including the U.S. Census of Agriculture.
Direct download access to data sets requires the creation of a personal account. In addition, analysis of ICPSR data sets requires the use of specialized software. For more information on this process, please consult the ICPSR Get Help page or schedule an appointment with the Library Data Lab.