Agricultural Land and Water Resource Base and Productivity, Pacific Northwest

Report Introduction: The U.S. Department of Agriculture developed a Land Inventory and Base program as part of its projections analysis for comprehensive river basin surveys under the Water Resources Council. This inventory as well as projections have been completed for the Columbia-North Pacific Water Resource Region. The Economic Research Service was assigned leadership for this phase of the program. However, Soil Conservation Service specialists performed most of the field work. The USDA Conservation Needs Inventory also provided a significant base of data for this inventory. This report presents the base data segment of the agricultural inventory and projections program. A major purpose of the report is to make available for more general use the basic soils, water, production, and selected input data collected and compiled for the study. The report covers the state of Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. The report is comprised of five sections. (1) A procedures section to acquaint the reader with the background of the data. (2) Farms and farm characteristics section to present important Ag Census data that may be useful in understanding the farming industry. (3) A description of the soils upon which the data are based. (4) A section devoted to making explicit land use relationships within the area. (5) The Appendix which presents in table form the data concerning major land uses cropping patterns, yields, water use, and fertilizer application.