This is the big day for all you agriculture statistics fanatics. USDA will be releasing the 2007 Census of Agriculture. Yep. Old data.

The Census of Agriculture, taken every five years, is a complete count of U.S. farms and ranches and the people who operate them. The Census looks at land use and ownership, operator characteristics, production practices, income and expenditures and many other areas. For America’s farmers and ranchers, the Census of Agriculture is their voice, their future and their responsibility.

Now I’m just wondering about this in today’s information technology world. How has this data already changed? Can you really use it to make good business decisions? What do you think it’s most useful for?

Post Update: The 2007 Census of Agriculture has been released. Here’s an excerpt from the release:

The number of farms in the United States has grown 4 percent and the operators of those farms have become more diverse in the past five years, according to results of the 2007 Census of Agriculture released today by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agriculture Statistics Service (NASS).

The 2007 Census counted 2,204,792 farms in the United States, a net increase of 75,810 farms. Nearly 300,000 new farms have begun operation since the last census in 2002. Compared to all farms nationwide, these new farms tend to have more diversified production, fewer acres, lower sales and younger operators who also work off-farm.