Database names 1.5 million farm subsidy recipients

The Environmental Working Group's Farm Bill 2007 Policy Analysis Database already claims more than 340,000 searches since its release two days ago:

For decades, American taxpayers have provided tens of billions of dollars in federal farm subsidies to some of the largest and wealthiest farm businesses in the nation. But thousands of people who benefited from the subsidy flow were shielded from public view behind layers of partnerships, joint ventures, limited liability corporations, cooperatives, and other business structures that obscured their personal subsidy claims.

Not anymore.

A new Web site, developed by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) from millions of previously unpublished USDA subsidy records and released today, provides nearly full disclosure of federal farm subsidy beneficiaries for the first time. The disclosures include individuals, sometimes numbering in the dozens, whose subsidy benefits pass through one or more plantation-scale farm businesses that produce vast quantities of subsidized cotton, rice and other crops. Many of those businesses receive millions in USDA crop subsidies each year, and according to the new USDA data, pass six-figure benefits through to many people. In many cases, these individuals have not previously had subsidy benefits attributed to them by name.

Here's Kentucky's page and here's Indiana's.

State and Metropolitan Area Data Book

"The State and Metropolitan Area Data Book features more than 1,500 data items for the United States and individual states, counties and metropolitan areas from a variety of sources." This latest edition of the book includes data on population, housing, cost of living, personal income, new businesses, bankruptcies, agriculture, natural resources, construction, finance, transportation, government employment and more. And you can download Excel files of the data.

Rich As Dirt

Rich As Dirt looks to be an interesting experiment in Web collaboration:

RichAsDirt is a website to help small farmers improve their yields and efficiency by taking advantage of the collective knowledge and experience of farmers across the country. RichAsDirt offers a set of simple, web-based tools to help farmers plan, track, analyze, and improve their farm operations. ...

RichAsDirt takes advantage of the diversity in farming strategies and experiences of farmers across the country. It's based in part on the economic principle of the "wisdom of crowds," which says that the average of the strategies chosen by many is often better than a single strategy chosen by one. ...

By using data directly from farmers, combining it, and displaying it in a clear and concise way, RichAsDirt can help farmers harness this wisdom and insight, and visualize how their farming methods compare to those of other farmers in their area, and nationwide.

Since RichAsDirt relies on data submitted by its users, the more people who use it, the better it becomes!

The free site "was created by an engineering student with an interest in agriculture and economics. (and too much time on his hands!)"

Farmers markets listed by state

This map by the U.S. Department of Agriculture lets you look up farmers markets by state.

Penn State Center for Plasticulture

This is a sign that academic specialization has gone too far: Penn State has a Center for Plasticulture. Plasticulture is the use of plastic in agriculture.

Food nutrient database

The National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference from the U.S. Department of Agriculture gives you detailed information about the makeup of foods. For example, say you want to know about a jar of "Babyfood, cereal, mixed, with applesauce and bananas." You will learn it is composed of dozens of nutrients, including 49 milligrams of phosphorus.

Federal e-mail alerts and newsletters

FirstGov.gov has a one-stop page where you can sign up for government alerts and newsletters on business and finance, defense, education, employment and benefits, environment and agriculture, foreign affairs, health, safety and consumer protection, taxes and travel.

Agripedia

"Agripedia is an Internet Accessible Interactive Multimedia Instructional Resource, developed by the University of Kentucky's College of Agriculture ... " Uh, OK. You mean it's an agriculture encyclopedia?

The New York Times' series on class includes an interesting infographic where you can plug in your occupation, income, education and wealth and find your place in the world. It also includes an enlightening illustration of social mobility.

eHow offers "Clear Instructions on How To Do (just about) Everything."

FirstGov.gov has a "U.S. Government RSS Library" of RSS feeds for various topics - agriculture, forests, consumers, health, data and statistics, military, education, science and more.

This page has a long list of "Internet tools for effective information handling."

It's a little late in the game for this, but here's the League of Women Voters on "How to Watch a Debate."

"The USDA Economics and Statistics System contains nearly 300 reports and datasets from the economics agencies of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. These materials cover U.S. and international agriculture and related topics. Most reports are text files that contain time-sensitive information. Most data sets are in spreadsheet format and include time-series data that are updated yearly."

You can browse RAND reports on health care here - including reports on aging, alternative medicine, end-of-life care, environmental health and much more.

"The IRE and NICAR Database Library has just updated its Consolidated Federal Funds Report database. The Consolidated Federal Funds Report (CFFR) includes records of Federal Government expenditures or obligations to states, counties and local agencies, including: social security payments, grants, procurement contracts, salaries and wages, direct loans, insurance, etc." Cost is $75.

The AMG All Music Guide is "one of the most comprehensive, authoritative sources for music information on the web," SearchDay says. "The site designers took full advantage of the interactive capabilities of database technology. Just about everything in the All Music Guide database is massively cross-linked, allowing you to not only get full information about a particular artist but making it easy to simply click through for information on related artists, musical styles, instruments... the range of interlinked information is truly impressive."

Download.com has begun offering free music downloads.

The Guardian compares the efficiency of Google searches to using the telephone or a librarian. Short answer: Google isn't always the best choice.

Meat producers, who don't want to let their fellow flesh peddlers test every cow for mad cow disease, can turn to MeatNews.com, which has a meat-specific search engine, for their own self-serving view of the world.

U.S. Department of Agriculture offers a database of exporters and other international trade contacts.

You can get a copy of the now famous Army report on U.S. torture - er, abuse - of Iraqi prisoners at The Smoking Gun (PDF).

The United Nations' FAOSTAT offers more than 3 million records on agriculture, including information on production, trade, land use, food quality, pesticides, machinery, exports and more.

One example is a database tells you how much of a particular pesticide is acceptable in your food. You'll be reassured to know that the UN says it's OK to have 8 mg/kg of malathion in a head of lettuce. The same page also can tell you how much drug residue is acceptable. The data can be downloaded in a format suitable for opening in a spreadsheet.

In the U.S., the Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service offers detailed data on the outlook for cattle, hogs, broilers, milk, eggs and other farm products.

Courtesy of LLRX.com:

• Business filings available by state.
• Medicare resources.
• Facts about FOIA fees.

Atheists such as yours truly need this glossary of religious terms. Oddly, there's no entry for superstition.

The Center for American Progress has a new database "to chart conservatives' dishonesty. "In this database, each conservative quote will be matched against well-documented facts, so that users can get a more accurate picture of the issues," the site says. This obviously isn't non-partisan or balanced, as is FactCheck.org, reported here previously.

USA Today and the Des Moines Register used CAR in a joint project on college sport finances that showed how money that normally would have gone to academics is increasingly going to athletic programs. One of its prime examples is the University of Louisville.

A writer points out how journalists use Google to produce meaningless statistics.

Every day University of Pittsburgh law students compile "legal news worth thinking about," including related research materials, every day in The Paper Chase. The site itself, Jurist, is one of the Internet's best legal sites.

Yahoo no longer uses Google's search engine and has developed its own.

AGRIS is a searchable database of research on agriculture.