Agricultural Statistics

AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS. Agricultural statistics have a vital, basic significance in a nation's social and economic welfare. The practical use of statistics of production, supplies, and movements of the . products of agriculture has been highly developed by business and Governments. The world-wide de pression, and the ensuing increased activity of Governments in aiding or controlling agricultural production and marketing, have added impetus to the further development and use of agricultural statistics. War emphasizes still further the fundamental national importance of maintaining adequate sources of information on agricultural resources, potentialities, and deficiencies.

The regular systematic collection of statistics relating to agri culture began early in the i9th century. Annual estimates of agricultural production were begun in France in 181 s. In the United States, agricultural census taking began in 184o, and annual estimates of production in 1866.

In England it might be claimed that the first agricultural statistics were those collected in the 11 th century in Domesday Book, which included a record of the use of all land then under cultivation. Gregory King estimated the use of land and the production of Eng land at the end of the 17th century. But it was not until in the 59th century that the State undertook, as an ordinary function of ad ministration, the annual collection of statistical information about agriculture. In the early part of the 19th century spasmodic attempts were made from time to time in different parts of the country to collect agricultural statistics. In 1835 a committee of the House of Lords reported in favour of uniform and compulsory returns and in 5864 a resolution was passed by the House of Commons demanding the immediate establishment of a national system of agricultural statistics. No legislation was passed but the Board of Trade gave effect to the wish of Parliament and established a system of annual returns from every occupier of agricultural land of the acreage of crops and number of livestock on each holding. The returns were first obtained in 1866, and in 5884 they were supplemented by the collection of estimates of the year's yield of the principal crops. The responsibility for the collection of all agricultural statistics was trans ferred from the Board of Trade to the Board of Agriculture soon after its establishment in 1889.

The most systematic attempt to provide agricultural statistics by private enterprise was that made by Lawes and Gilbert in their calcula tions of the production and consumption of wheat in the British Isles. These were started in 1852 and continued annually until official esti mates of the yield of wheat and other crops were begun 32 years later.

In many countries the field of agricultural statistics has been ex tended to include the collection of price data, estimating cost and income, and securing data relating to the occupiers of and the con ditions of living on the land.

The International Statistical Institute and the International Insti tute of Agriculture have been influential in extending the systematic collection of statistics relating to agriculture in many countries in recent years. About 1930 an effort was made to encourage countries which had not developed systematic census taking, to take a census which could be co-ordinated with the censuses of other countries so as to obtain a more complete world-wide coverage of agricultural production. The most significant development in agricultural statistics in recent years is the use of current and historical data relating to prices, supplies, and economic conditions affecting the demand for agri cultural products, to forecast or estimate probable prices in the market or the income from the products of the year. Such analyses are being used extensively in the U.S. and to some extent in other countries as a basis for formulating programs and policies relating to agriculture.

Systems of Collection.

Most of the larger nations, and many private business groups, maintain trained organizations and well de veloped methods for gathering agricultural statistics. In the U.S., the Department of Agriculture issues comprehensive regular, periodic, and special reports that are accepted by business generally as authoritative. The Department's monthly forecasts and reports on crops and markets are awaited by all major lines of business and are quite a material factor in determining business activities. These statistical reports are gathered and compiled by a trained staff. In addition the Department maintains specialized services throughout the country, such as those of grain inspectors at 135 shipping points and meat inspectors at packing centres. The quinquennial census also provides comprehensive data and serves as a valuable test-check.

There are a number of private agencies that supply agricultural statistics which are accepted as authoritative. These usually relate each to a specific commodity such as cotton, wheat, sugar, etc. Out standing among such statistical organizations is Broomhall's, Liver pool, whose forecasts and reports on grain are standard market in formation throughout the world. The New York Cotton Exchange, and other large commodity markets maintain permanent statistical organizations to supply information on production and distribution.

Statistics of World Agriculture.

Nearly all countries are now signatories to the International Institute of Agriculture, Rome, which supplies regular monthly and annual reports and special studies on the major crops, livestock, and livestock products of the entire world, excepting chiefly U.S.S.R. and China, for which information is fragmentary. The Institute issues a monthly International Review of Agriculture, which contains official reports on conditions of agri cultural production in nearly all countries, forecasts of crop yields, and size of harvests. The Institute's Yearbook of Agricultural Statis tics is an annual summary of world agricultural production and, like its monthly reports, is printed in English and French.

The average annual production (1929-38) of four principal cereal crops in major producing areas is as follows, the figures representing millions of bushels:— Statistics of farm livestock are less complete than those of crops and are in many countries collected infrequently at irregular intervals. The following table shows approximately the world's totals of the principal meat animals in comparison with the human populations of the six great world areas.

*International Institute of Agriculture, 1936 figures.

tU. S. Dept. of Agriculture, "Agricultural Statistics, 1938," averages for except U.S.S.R.

Unfortunately no statistics of any reliability are available for China (pre-eminently an agricultural country). The annual value of pigs reared in China must be enormous and cattle and horses are every where in evidence ; but the unsettled state of the country since the Revolution has made records difficult to obtain.

The distribution of the animals and their relative importance as indicated by their density are shown in the following table:— *1 hectare= 2.47 acres. tFigures for Germany do not include Austria or the Sudeten; do include Saar. The figures for livestock are for 1938.

Statistics of British Agriculture.

Thecontinuity and in some degree the comparability of agricultural statistics for the British Isles have been affected by political and administrative changes. For many years they were collected by the Board of Agriculture for Great Britain and by the Department of Agriculture for Ireland. In 1912 the Board of Agriculture for Scotland was established and took over the collection of statistics in that country. When Ireland was divided separate agricultural departments were set up for Northern Ireland and the Irish Free State respectively, so that there are (194o) four de partments responsible for the agricultural statistics of the British Isles.

The acreage and production of principal crops in the United King dom in 1938 were: The number of farm livestock, including poultry, in the United Kingdom in 1938 were as follows: Horses and colts, 1,100,000; cattle and calves, 8,762,00o; sheep and lambs, 26,301,000; pigs, 4,378,000; chickens, 69,119,300; ducks, 2,988,800 ; geese, 747,300 ; turkeys, 1,390,700.

Particulars of other crops, and statistics relating to agricultural out put which are not included in the annual returns are obtained from time to time in connection with the census of production (see AGRI