State Agricultural Trade Data

The State Exports, Cash Receipts Estimates and State Trade by Country of Origin and Destination data provide different approaches of reporting internationally traded commodities by State. The USDA, Economic Research Service (ERS) compiles data from the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census for the State Trade by Country of Origin and Destination dataset. However, sales of commodities to and from international trade partners are recorded at the point where they are loaded or unloaded for shipment. For many commodities, especially bulk commodities, this is more likely to be in States with shipping ports and less likely to be where the product was produced. To determine the amount of a State’s production that is exported, USDA, ERS also estimates exports by State based on farm cash receipts for exported products in the State Exports, Cash Receipts Estimates dataset. As these two datasets measure different definitions of State trade using different data and methods, the results are not directly comparable. 

State Exports, Cash Receipts Estimates

The annually updated State Exports, Cash Receipts Estimates capture the value of a State’s agricultural production that is exported. USDA, ERS estimates calendar-year (i.e., January to December) State exports of total and selected commodities based on U.S. farm cash receipts data starting in 2000. All export values are calibrated so the sum of State export estimates for a commodity equals the total U.S. export value for that commodity. The documentation page details the cash receipts-based method. 

State Trade by Country of Origin and Destination

To provide information regarding both States’ imports and exports, USDA, ERS relies on the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census' State Data Series. From this data, USDA, ERS provides the top five agricultural import and export commodity groups, their value for each State, and the top five countries of origin (imports) or destination (exports) for each product by fiscal quarter. The documentation page contains a full description of the source data, method of compilation, and limitations of this dataset.