CONVERSION FACTORS AND WEIGHTS AND MEASURES FOR AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES AND THEIR PRODUCTS The tables in this report were compiled to provide a manual of uniform conversion factors for use in statistical, research, and service programs of the Department. A reasonably complete set of all-purpose factors is presented. However, for a particular commodity, the data may not be entirely adequate for all uses. The data are intended to represent overall averages except where indicated. However, in some instances the averages are only approximations. All conversion factors included are based on the most recent and reliable information available and are intended to reflect current conditions and practices. Factors for many commodities change from year to year; therefore, caution should be exercised when using these data to compile or revise historical series. The number of significant figures shown for many factors does not necessarily indicate the degree of precision. Some of the factors are in common use and carry more significant digits than might be justified when considering the accuracy of the data from which they were derived. Data for the revisions in this report were compiled by Cleveland P. Eley under the general supervision of Henry Badger. Instead of the task force method used in the last revision, commodity specialists in the Commodity Economics Division of the Economics, Statistics, and Cooperatives Service provided leadership for revisions of the tables in their area of interest. These include Larry Duewer and Allen Baker for livestock and livestock products; Alfred Burns, Charles Porter, and Jules Powell for fruits and vegetables; Charles Shaw and Floyd Lasley for dairy products; George Kromer for fats and oils products; Kenneth Blase for poultry and eggs; Frederick Gray for sugar, coffee, and tea; John Lawler for fibers; and Robert Enochian for dehydrated and frozen products. Other persons in the Department also sharing the responsibility for updating this report included Russell Hawes, W. Edmond Tyler, Larry Crabtree, and Donald Liden of the Agricultural Marketing Service; David Shenkenberger and Curtis Green in Food Safety and Quality Service; and Wilda Martinez of the Agricultural Research Service (now part of Science and Education Administration) who coordinated requests for data from scientists at ARS (SEA) regional research laboratories. L. W. Van Meir, National Canners Association, provided data on canned fruits and vegetables. A new table showing metric wet and dry volume conversion factors has been added. These data along with other metric information provide a basis for converting most weights and measures shown in this report to metric measures. This report is a revision of Statistical Bulletin No. 362, Conversion Factors and Weights and Measures for Agricultural Commodities and Their Products, published by the Economic Research Service, USDA, in June 1965. Many of the revisions in this report reflect the changing structure of agricultural production and marketing patterns. |