Title:  Farm acreage
Column Name:  acre/ftot*
Span:  1880-1997
Units:  Acres
Format:  Integer

*Please be aware that the totals for farmland acreage may not sum to the data presented under the total farmland type due to the fact the U.S. Census did not collect data for all subtypes of farmland every year.

Farm acreage - 1880
Total land in farms is the acreage of improved and unimproved land. Improved land includes land that is tilled, including fallow and grass in rotation (whether pasture or meadow), and permanent meadows, permanent pastures, orchards, and vineyards. Unimproved land includes woodland, forests, old fields not growing wood, and other unimproved land.

Source (where directly obtained):
Haines, Michael R., and the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research. Historical, Demographic, Economic, and Social Data: The United States, 1790-2000, Database 2896. Hamilton, NY: Colgate University/Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [producers], 2004. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2005.
http://www.icpsr.umich.edu

Original Source:
U.S. Bureau of the Census. Twelfth Decennial Census of the United States, 1900. Volume V, Agriculture, Part 1. Washington D.C.: United States Census Office, 1902.


Farm acreage - 1900
Total land in farms is the acreage used by the farmer for pastures, meadows, wood lots, and other agricultural purposes.

Source (where directly obtained):
Haines, Michael R., and the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research. Historical, Demographic, Economic, and Social Data: The United States, 1790-2000, Database 2896. Hamilton, NY: Colgate University/Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [producers], 2004. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2005.
http://www.icpsr.umich.edu

Original Source:
U.S. Bureau of the Census. Twelfth Decennial Census of the United States, 1900. Volume V, Agriculture, Part 1. Washington D.C.: United States Census Office, 1902.


Farm acreage - 1910, 1920
Total land in farms comprises three categories: improved land, unimproved woodland, and other unimproved land. Improved land includes all land regularly tilled or mowed, land pastured and cropped in rotation, land lying fallow, land in gardens, orchards, vineyards, and nurseries, and land occupied by farm buildings. Unimproved woodland includes all land covered with natural or planted forest trees which produce, or later may produce, firewood or other forest products. All other unimproved land includes brush land, rough or stony land, swamp land, and any other land which is not improved or in forest.

Farm acreage - 1940
Land in farms consists primarily of land used for crops and pasture or grazing. Land neither owned nor leased but from which crops, including wild hay, were harvested was to be reported as part of the farms; but when cattle, sheep, or other livestock were grazed or pastured on land neither owned nor leased by the operator, such land was not to be included as part of the farm. Although farmland also includes considerable areas of land not actually under cultivation or not even used for pasture or grazing, all such land under the control of the operator was considered a part of his farm. However, large areas of timberland or other nonagricultural land held by an operator of a farm as a separate business, and not used for pasture or grazing or for any other farm purpose, were to be excluded.

Source (where directly obtained):
Haines, Michael R., and the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research. Historical, Demographic, Economic, and Social Data: The United States, 1790-2000, Database 2896. Hamilton, NY: Colgate University/Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [producers], 2004. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2005.
http://www.icpsr.umich.edu

Original Source:
U.S. Bureau of the Census. Sixteenth Decennial Census of the United States, 1940 Agriculture, Volume I, Part 4. Washington D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1942.


Farm acreage - 1950, 1954
Land in farms consists primarily of land used for crops and pasture or grazing. All grazing land was included as land in farms except for open range and land used under government permit. Farmland also includes the entire acreage of woodland and wasteland owned or rented by farm operators, unless it was being held for nonagricultural pursuits or unless the acreage was unusually large. If a place had 1,000 or more acres (5,000 or more in the Western states) of wasteland and of woodland not pastured, and if less than 10 percent of the total acreage in the place was used for agricultural purposes, the acreage of woodland not pastured and wasteland was reduced to equal the acreage used for agriculture.

Source (where directly obtained):
Haines, Michael R., and the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research. Historical, Demographic, Economic, and Social Data: The United States, 1790-2000, Database 2896. Hamilton, NY: Colgate University/Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [producers], 2004. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2005.
http://www.icpsr.umich.edu

Original Source:
U.S. Bureau of the Census. Seventeenth Decennial Census of the United States, 1950 Agriculture, Volume I, Part 33. Washington D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1952.
U.S. Bureau of the Census. United States. Census of Agriculture, 1954, Volume I. Washington D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1956.


Farm acreage - 1958
Land in farms consists primarily of land used for crops and pasture or grazing. It also includes the entire acreage of woodland and wasteland owned or rented by farm operators, unless it was being held for nonagricultural pursuits or unless the acreage was unusually large. If a place had 1,000 or more acres of wasteland and of woodland not pastured, and if less than 10 percent of the total acreage in the place was used for agricultural purposes, the acreage of woodland not pastured and wasteland was reduced to equal the acreage used for agriculture.

Source (where directly obtained):
Haines, Michael R., and the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research. Historical, Demographic, Economic, and Social Data: The United States, 1790-2000, Database 2896. Hamilton, NY: Colgate University/Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [producers], 2004. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2005.
http://www.icpsr.umich.edu

Original Source:
U.S. Bureau of the Census. County and City Data Book, 1967 (A Statistical Abstract Supplement). Washington D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1967.


Farm acreage - 1969, 1974, 1982, 1997
Land in farms consists primarily of agricultural land used for crops, pasture, or grazing. It also includes woodland and wasteland not actually under cultivation or used for pasture or grazing, provided it was part of the farm operator's total operation.

Source (where directly obtained):
County and City Data Books from the University of Virginia, Geospatial and Statistical Data Center, 2003.
http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/collections/stats/ccdb/

Original Source:
U.S. Bureau of the Census. County & City Data Book, 1977. Washington D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1978.
U.S. Bureau of the Census. County & City Data Book, 1977. Washington D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1978.
U.S. Bureau of the Census. County & City Data Book [CD-ROM], 1988 Technical Documentation. Washington D.C.: Bureau of the Census, Data User Services Division, 1989.
U.S. Bureau of the Census. County & City Data Book, 1988-2000 [CDROM]. Washington D.C.: Bureau of the Census, Data User Services Division, 1989-2001.


Farm acreage - 1987
Land in farms refers to all land under the control of a farm operator, including land not actually under cultivation or not used for pasture or grazing. Grazing lands that are controlled by grazing associations and leased on a per-acre basis are also included.

Source (where directly obtained):
County and City Data Books from the University of Virginia, Geospatial and Statistical Data Center, 2003.
http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/collections/stats/ccdb/

Original Source:
U.S. Bureau of the Census. County & City Data Book, 1988-2000 [CDROM]. Washington D.C.: Bureau of the Census, Data User Services Division, 1989-2001.