Department of Agriculture federal obligations in Montana

A thick USDA file on Montana

Department of Agriculture as awarding agency, Montana as place-of-performance: 70,986 records summing to $3,602,797,511.28. A Department of Agriculture award coded outside MT is out. An award in Montana from a different awarding agency is out even if the topic sounds related. Montana (MT) excludes Idaho, Wyoming, North Dakota, and South Dakota. A Bismarck-coded award is North Dakota.

Seventy thousand nine hundred eighty-six awards is a high-count USDA file. Volume can rise on recurring assistance without each row being a new farm. Unique recipients are unpublished. Do not read 70,986 as 70,986 unique wheat acres, cattle head, or unique producers. The overlay Department of Agriculture in Montana is the both-keys table. Montana federal spending is the all-agency state hub. Department of Agriculture is the agency book without an MT filter. All spending ties lists other joins.

The implied mean is much lower than thin Energy cells. Dollars and row counts tell different stories on the same join. Correlation is not causation: Montana did not “cause” $3,602,797,511.28 by existing as a large or small place. Population and outcome scores are not packet facts. The join is 012 × MT only.

70,986 rows are not 70,986 farms

$3,602,797,511.28 does not measure wheat acres, cattle head, or unique producers. Those series are not USAspending fields on this aggregate. The cell sums award obligations with awarding-agency code 012 and an MT place-of-performance tag.

Do not treat 70,986 awards as a census of wheat acres, cattle head, or unique producers. Parent hubs are supposed to be larger than this pair. If Montana federal spending or Department of Agriculture matched $3,602,797,511.28 and 70,986, the join would be pointless. Use the overlay when both keys must stay on. Idaho, Wyoming, and South Dakota USDA joins are other pairs, not addends.

Montana, not a Northern Plains rollup

Place of performance MT is a geography tag on the award, not a metro list and not a commuting zone. Montana (MT) excludes Idaho, Wyoming, North Dakota, and South Dakota. A Bismarck-coded award is North Dakota. Recipient address can differ from that state tag.

The implied mean is much lower than thin Energy cells. Dollars and row counts tell different stories on the same join. This packet does not split $3,602,797,511.28 by city, county, or named facility. 70,986 awards stay statewide. A county table would be a different extract.

High volume still means obligations

Even a thick or thin file records obligations, not necessarily outlays. $3,602,797,511.28 can include amounts that pay on a later schedule. Citing it as cash already sent in Montana confuses two concepts. Deobligations and upward adjustments both move the total.

Montana’s own budget is a different ledger. Mixing it with the 70,986-award USAspending file leaves this series. No fiscal year is published in this packet, so this page does not invent one. Keep the obligation label on $3,602,797,511.28.

Citing USDA in Montana

Cite USAspending.gov: Department of Agriculture (agency 012) obligated $3,602,797,511.28 on 70,986 awards coded to Montana. Name both sides. Keep “obligations.” Do not relabel the total as wheat acres, cattle head, or unique producers.

Prefer Department of Agriculture in Montana if the overlay has refreshed after an ingest. Montana federal spending still includes every other awarding agency tagged to MT. Department of Agriculture is the 012 parent without the MT filter. All spending ties indexes other pairs. Do not add those parents into $3,602,797,511.28.

A usable footnote names Department of Agriculture, Montana, $3,602,797,511.28, and 70,986. The compact headline $3.60 billion is that same dollar total rounded. It is not a second extract. The implied mean near $50,754 is $3,602,797,511.28 divided by 70,986. Means are not medians. USAspending.gov remains the originating system.

Questions

How much has the Department of Agriculture obligated in Montana?

USAspending.gov records $3,602,797,511.28 across 70,986 awards with awarding agency 012 and a Montana tag. That is an obligation join, not an outlay and not a count of wheat acres, cattle head, or unique producers. Department of Agriculture in Montana is the live overlay for this pair. Keep both keys when quoting $3,602,797,511.28.

Is $3,602,797,511.28 a measure of wheat acres, cattle head, or unique producers?

No. The packet publishes $3,602,797,511.28 and 70,986 awards for agency 012 inside MT coding. Those other series are unpublished here. Unique recipients are unpublished. Quote the dollar total and the award count together. Obligations are not outlays.

Why does this USDA file have 70,986 awards?

That is the award-record count for 012 × MT. Combined with $3,602,797,511.28, the average is about $50,754. Modifications and repeat instruments add rows. 70,986 is not unique wheat acres, cattle head, or unique producers. Later ingests can revise the count. Prefer the overlay if the table moved.

Where is the live table?

Department of Agriculture in Montana is the overlay. Montana federal spending and Department of Agriculture are the parents, not addends. All spending ties lists other pairs. Keep both sides of the join when citing $3,602,797,511.28. USAspending.gov is the source. Obligations are not outlays.