If you want to amaze friend and family or just have some stimulating cocktail party icebreakers, check out the fun facts you can find in 77 years of historical data now available online from USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS).

Here are a few examples:

U.S. egg exports skyrocketed from 5 million dozen in 1940 to 153 million dozen in 1941 and by 1944, that number was nearly 700 million dozen.

Iowa harvested 2.36 billion bushels of corn in 2011, more than the entire U.S. corn harvest of 1935.

Horse and mule populations fell from 18.7 million in 1930 to 3.1 million in 1960, after which the statistic was discontinued.

NASS just recently completed the digital compilation of data since 1936. In the past, this information, published in the annual bulletin Agricultural Statistics, was available in print form only. The volumes detail U.S. farming for much of the 20th century, including the Dust Bowl and World War II.

“U.S. agriculture continues to progress by learning from our past, which is why it is imperative to have historic data easily available,” said Dr. Cynthia Clark, NASS Administrator. “By publishing this information online we are simplifying the research process and further enhancing access to this important and interesting information.”

It is pretty interesting stuff. Check it out!