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Ag By The Numbers: How Does Your State Rank?
SARA WYANT
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Does your congressional district have bragging rights as the top agricultural producer in the nation? Or as the top recipient of government payments? How about the most female farmers?
All of those answers and more can be found in a recently released report from USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) which ranks production and other key data by congressional district. The Ranking of Congressional Districts report, which is available here, presents selected 2012 Census of Agriculture statistics based on congressional districts of the 113th Congress. In states like North and South Dakota where there is only one district, data is presented for the state “at large.” You can also find helpful state and county data in this report.
This is the kind of information that can be especially helpful to your elected representatives and also to any citizen who wants to be better informed about issues impacting his or her district. Keep in mind that the census definition of a farm is any place from which $1,000 or more of agricultural products were produced and sold, or normally would have been sold, during the census year.
In this most recent report, the top bragging rights for agricultural production in the nation go to Nebraska’s 3rd Congressional District, edging out the 4th District of Iowa, according to figures from USDA’s 2012 Census of Agriculture.
The farmers and ranchers in Nebraska’s 3rd, comprising about three-fourths of the western part of the state, sold some $17.7 billion worth of agricultural products in 2012, with sales almost equally split between crops and livestock. The district also was first in the total number of farms, with 35,850.
The rankings may provide some bragging rights to Adrian Smith, the Republican who represents the district in Congress and who sits on the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee. In the 2007 census, the district’s agricultural production was estimated at $11.4 billion.
Iowa’s 4th District, represented by Republican Agriculture Committee member Steve King, produced just under $17 billion worth of farm products. The district has been enlarged from the 2007 census, when ag production was estimated at $6.4 billion, after one of the state’s districts was eliminated.
Kansas’ “Big First” District, which was No.1 in the previous Ag census from 2007, dropped to third place.
The 1st District of Kansas, a big producer of wheat, grain sorghum and cattle, ranked third in ag production with sales of $14.3 billion, up from about $12.1 billion in 2007 when it topped the USDA list. The district, the 12th largest in the country, is represented by Tim Huelskamp, a Republican who serves on the Small Business subcommittee on Agriculture, Energy and Trade. Huelskamp was removed from the Agriculture Committee in December after he opposed GOP leaders on key issues, reportedly leaving the Big First without a rep on the panel for the first time in 50 years.
Minnesota’s 7th District, represented by Democrat Collin Peterson, the ranking member on the House Agriculture Committee, ranked fourth in total production, at just over $11 billion. The district, one of the country’s top producers of sugar beets, turkeys and soybeans, had about $5.8 billion in ag production in 2007, when it was ranked in eighth place.
North and South Dakota – which are each considered single legislative districts, were in fifth and sixth place, respectively, with total agricultural sales of $10.95 billion and $10.17 billion, respectively. North Dakota was in sixth place in 2007, and South Dakota, represented by GOP Ways and Means member Kristi Noem, was in fourth.
California 21st District in the farm-rich Central Valley was the seventh biggest ag producer ($9.2 billion). The district is represented by Republican David Valadao, who serves on the Appropriations agriculture subcommittee. Next was Texas’ 13th District ($8.6 billion,), which includes the Panhandle and is represented by the GOP's Mac Thornberry.
Rounding out the top 10 ag-producing districts were Minnesota’s 1st ($7.1 billion), which stretches across the bottom of the state and is represented by Democrat Tim Walz, and Iowa’s 1st District ($6.6 billion), in northeastern Iowa, represented by freshman Republican Rod Blum.
In terms of government payments received, North Dakota topped the list. The state’s 24,790 farmers received more than $381.7 million in government payments, followed by Iowa’s 4th District with over $321 million and the first district of Kansas with $306.5 million.
Which district has the largest number of female farmers? Oklahoma’s 2nd District, represented by Republican Rep. Markwayne Mullin wins bragging rights with 15,347 women operators, followed by Montana’s at large district with 15,065 and Nebraska’s 3rd Congressional District, with 14,588.
The report includes more than 60 tables ranking congressional districts in categories including value of government payments received (North Dakota, $381.7 million), sales of cattle (Kansas 1st, $8.6 billion), corn, soybeans and other crops, as well as farm numbers and characteristics. ∆
SARA WYANT: Editor of Agri-Pulse, a weekly e-newsletter covering farm and rural policy. To contact her, go to: http://www.agri-pulse.com/
Agri-Pulse Managing Editor Daniel Enoch contributed to this story.
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