The bulk of agricultural data were taken from the 1995 FAO Production Yearbook ( Vol. 49, published in 1996), the 1994 FAO Trade Yearbook (Vol. 48, published in 1995), and the 1996-97 World Resources Institute Report (published in 1996). [We use the CU-Boulder Government Documents library for these volumes; ask for the most recent edition.]
Notes on alternative sources for agricultural data:
The WDI data disk and report reproduces data from the FAO Production Yearbook for cereals and roots/tubers (but not pulses, vegetables, etc.), area under cereal production, cereal yield, and cereal imports (but not exports); the WDI selections are too skimpy to use, but their data on irrigated land and fertilizer consumption may be useful in the future.
The FAO provides a valuable website at http://apps.fao.org/, with a data page at http://apps.fao.org/cgi-bin/nph-db.pl. The latter page allows access to nearly all FAO data series on production, land, fisheries, trade, etc. Unfortunately, it allows retrieval of only 178 data points at a time, not even enough to retrieve a single data series for one year across all countries.
The World Resources InstituteDatabase Diskette set has one disk on agriculture which also contains much of the FAO data needed. But publication runs quite a bit behind the data. For instance, the 1996-97 disk set, available in spring, 1997, had 1994 FAO data on it, even though the 1995 Production Yearbook was out.
The UN Statistical Yearbook on CD-ROM runs even further behind. The disk available in early 1997 included data on cereals production from 1993.
The following data were taken from the 1995 FAO Production Yearbook. [We used the CU-Boulder Government Documents library for the volume; ask for the most recent edition.]
LDCrop. Arable and permanent cropland from the Production Yearbook. In the 1995 data these were in Table 1 in 1000 hectares. We divided by 1000 to convert to million hectares.
LDGraz. Permanent pasture from the Production Yearbook. In the 1995 data these were in Table 1 in 1000 hectares. We divided by 1000 to convert to million hectares.
LDFor. Forest and woodlands from the Production Yearbook. In the 1995 data these were in Table 1 in 1000 hectares. We divided by 1000 to convert to million hectares.
LDOth. Other land from the Production Yearbook. In the 1995 data these were in Table 1 in 1000 hectares. We divided by 1000 to convert to million hectares.
MeatProd. Total meat production from the Production Yearbook. In the 1995 data these were in Table 97 in 1000 metric tons. We divided by 1000 to convert to million metric tons.
AGPCer. Total cereals production from the Production Yearbook. In the 1995 data these were in Table 15 in 1000 metric tons. We divided by 1000 to convert to million metric tons.
AGPRoots. Total roots and tuber production from the Production Yearbook. In the 1995 data these were in Table 25 in 1000 metric tons. We divided by 1000 to convert to million metric tons.
AGPPul. Total pulses production from the Production Yearbook. In the 1995 data these were in Table 31 in 1000 metric tons. We divided by 1000 to convert to million metric tons.
AGPVeg. Total vegetables and melons from the Production Yearbook. In the 1995 data these were in Table 49 in 1000 metric tons. We divided by 1000 to convert to million metric tons.
AGPFruit. Total fruits excluding melons from the Production Yearbook. In the 1995 data these were in Table 49 in 1000 metric tons. We divided by 1000 to convert to million metric tons.
The following data were taken from the 1994 FAO Trade Yearbook. [We used the CU-Boulder Government Documents library for the volume; ask for the most recent edition.]
AGMCrop. Imports of crops production. In the 1994 data these were in Table 38, Imports and Exports of Cereals. Use cereal production alone if that is all that is there. Use a broader measure of crop imports, if possible. Want a physical measure in million metric tons.
AGXCrop. Exports of crops production. In the 1994 data these were in Table 38, Imports and Exports of Cereals. Use cereal production alone if that is all that is there. Use a broader measure of crop imports, if possible. Want a physical measure in million metric tons.
AGMMeat. Imports of meat. In the 1994 data these were in Table 12, Imports and Exports of Meat. Want a physical measure in million metric tons.
AGXMeat. Exports of meat. In the 1994 data these were in Table 12, Imports and Exports of Meat. Want a physical measure in million metric tons.
In the past, some data has been taken from the most recent year of the FAO Fishery Statistics Yearbook. [We used the CU-Boulder Government Documents library for the volume; ask for the most recent edition.] This source was not available from CU-Boulder at the time of research for 1995 data, however.
Most of the following data were taken from the 1996-97 World Resource Institute, World Resources:
RFSSH. Fish catch, marine. In the 1991-93 data these were in Table 13.4, Marine and Freshwater Catches, Aquaculture, and Fish Consumption. Want marine catch in million metric tons.
FRESHFISH Fish catch, freshwater. In the 1991-93 data these were in Table 13.4, Marine and Freshwater Catches, Aquaculture, and Fish Consumption. Want freshwater catch in million metric tons.
Apparent Consumption of Grain: Total cereals production (AGPCer) -plus- Imports of crops production (AGMCrop) -minus- Exports of crops production (AGXCrop). This data was from the 1995 FAO Production and 1994 FAO Trade Yearbooks.
Grains Fed. Grains fed to livestock as % of total grain consumption. The 1994 data is from the World Resources Data Table 10.3, Livestock Populations and Grain Consumed as Feed.
GrainFeed. % Grain used for animal feed (Grains fed to livestock as % of total grain consumption x Apparent Consumption of Grain). This was computed from World Resources data.
AQUACul. Aquaculture, total fish and shellfish raised for food, million metric tons. In the 1991-93 data this was in Table 13.4, Marine and Freshwater Catches, Aquaculture, and Fish Consumption. [Worldwatch also puts this series on its annual data disk.]
WATRESPC. Freshwater resources per capita, cubic meters. In the 1991-93 World Resources Data this was in Data Table 13.1, Freshwater Resources and Withdrawals.
WATUSEPF. Freshwater use per capita, cubic meters. In the 1995 World Resources Data this was in Data Table 13.1, Freshwater Resources and Withdrawals.
(Note: WATUSEPF data is based on a time range consisting primarily of the years 1987 to 1995).