Event encourages innovation in government

State Treasurer Colleen C. Davis, along with the University of Delaware and Tableau Software, a leading visual analytics platform, hosted an event for state government and university participants today. The event promoted data gathering and governance, while sharing interactive tools and visualization opportunities through engaging use case presentations from Delaware partners and hands-on trainings for beginner and intermediate users.

“Tableau Day is a great step in making data work for the residents of our state. Walking away from this event, participants can better gather and govern data, and they can take those rows of numbers and translate data into something easy for the public to understand, and use,” said Treasurer Davis.

The event was attended more than 75 participants across more than a dozen agencies of state government and the University of Delaware participants. Tableau Day featured presentations from the Department of Services for Children, Youth and their Families (DSCYF), the University of Delaware, and the Office of the State Treasurer. Tableau led trainings for participants, and Navigator Management Software shared advice and examples of visual analytics use within public entities while promoting data governance.

In April, the Office of the State Treasurer released their interactive Available Income Calculator, created by staff using Tableau. The tool is hosted on Tableau Public, allowing other jurisdictions to use the framework and insert their own consumer data and tax information to make the tool specific to their residents. Since its release, the tool has been used more than 8,000 times.

“The success of the Available Income Calculator is a testament to the State of Delaware’s strong commitment to extending data transparency to their residents,” said Steve Spano, Regional Vice President, Public Sector at Tableau. “We’re delighted to team up with the Treasurer’s office to help other organizations around the state see and understand their data, and use visual data stories to communicate more effectively with their residents.”

Visual analytics products aim to make data useful, internally helping with measurement and decision-making, and externally providing a medium through which the complex can be made simple and readily available for residents. The University of Delaware presented on their efforts to create internal dashboards, while the DSCYF discussed the dashboards they created and have shared with the public to track and visualize data and performance of various programs overtime.

“With respect to technology, government is often viewed as being behind the private sector,” said Susan Steward, Office of the State Treasurer and a Tableau user. “But today we’ve proven that government is moving to the forefront of innovation in order to empower residents to interact with the state.”

On-demand translation and printable snapshots are among new upgrades released today to the Delaware Report Card.

The Delaware Department of Education launched the Delaware Report Card (reportcard.doe.k12.de.us), a more consumer-friendly site to provide important educational information to Delaware families, last year. Designed for families to find important information with ease, the Delaware Report Card replaced the state’s school profiles site. The upgrades released today are part of continuous efforts to make enhancements and improvements to the site.

The latest changes and additions to the site include:

• On-demand translation available for all information on the site in four languages
• Downloadable/printable snapshot overviews for all schools, districts and the state
• New data about students’ college and career preparedness as well as educator information coming next week
• Data showing student growth in English language arts and math, complementing the proficiency data previously available
• 2019 federal accountability results

Find more information on the Delaware Report Card here.

The department will continue to collect feedback through the contact link on the report card homepage. The link also can be used to submit general questions or comments.

As data is added to the Delaware Report Card it also may be added to the Open Data Portal, which provides researchers easier access to downloadable data to support their needs. Learn more about other recent additions to that site here.

Media contact: Alison May, alison.may@doe.k12.de.us, 302-735-4006

DOVER, Del. – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) Delaware office today announced the results of the 2017 Census of Agriculture with new information about 2,302 Delaware farms and ranches and those who operate them, including first-time data about on-farm decision making, at the state and county level.

“Agriculture continues to play an important role in Delaware’s economy. I want to thank all of our family farmers who took the time to participate in the 2017 U.S. Census of Agriculture,” said Delaware Secretary of Agriculture Michael T. Scuse. “The information our farmers provided in the Census will help local and federal legislators, businesses, and others make informed decisions, especially on federal programs, that will directly impact our farms.”

Census data provide valuable insights into demographics, economics, land and activities on U.S. farms and ranches. Some key state highlights include:

• The average age of all producers (a person involved in making decisions for the farm operation) was 57.4 years of age.
• The number of female producers increased by nearly 12 percent from 2012.
• The per farm average net income increased from $130,842 in 2012 to $277,316 in 2017.

The new Census data also shows that agriculture remains Delaware’s largest single land use, with 42 percent of Delaware’s land (or 525,324 acres) in farms, up from 508,652 acres in 2012. Poultry production ranked first in the state for market value of agricultural products sold with more than $1.1 billion, with grains, oilseeds, dry beans, and dry peas; vegetables, melons, potatoes, and sweet potatoes; nursery, greenhouse, floriculture, and sod; and milk from cows rounding out the top five commodity areas.

“The Census shows new data that can be compared to previous censuses for insights into agricultural trends and changes down to the county level,” said NASS Administrator Hubert Hamer. “We are pleased to share first-time data on topics such as military status and on-farm decision making. To make it easier to delve into the data, we are pleased to make the results available in many online formats including a new data query interface, as well as traditional data tables.”

For the 2017 Census of Agriculture, NASS changed the demographic questions to better represent the roles of all persons involved in on-farm decision making. As a result, in 2017 the number of all producers in Delaware was 3,907 up from 3,789 producers in 2012.

Other demographic highlights include:

• New and beginning producers with 10 years or less of farming comprised of 851 producers.
• Published for the first time, producers with military service encompassed 390 producers.

The Census tells the story of American agriculture and is an important part of our history. First conducted in 1840 in conjunction with the decennial Census, the Census of Agriculture accounts for all U.S. farms and ranches and the people who operate them. After 1920, the Ag Census happened every four to five years. By 1982, it was regularly conducted once every five years. Today, NASS sends questionnaires to nearly 3 million potential U.S. farms and ranches. Nearly 25 percent of those who responded did so online. Conducted since 1997 by USDA NASS – the federal statistical agency responsible for producing official data about U.S. agriculture – it remains the only source of comprehensive agricultural data for every state and county in the nation and is invaluable for planning the future.

Results are available in many online formats including video presentations, a new data query interface, maps, and traditional data tables. All Census of Agriculture information is available at www.nass.usda.gov/AgCensus.

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Media Contact: Stacey Hofmann, (302) 698-4542, Stacey.Hofmann@delaware.gov

DOVER – The DNREC-sponsored 31st annual Delaware Coastal Cleanup held Sept. 22 drew 1,115 volunteers, who collected 2.7 tons of trash and recyclables from 42 sites along more than 68 miles of Delaware’s waterways and coastline stretching from Wilmington to Fenwick Island. For the first time in its history, the cleanup was moved to a rain date, due to Hurricane Florence.

“Each year, Delaware’s Coastal Cleanup helps make a difference for marine life and water quality – and it’s the hundreds of dedicated volunteers, many of whom come back year after year, who make the Cleanup an annual environmental success story,” said DNREC Secretary Shawn M. Garvin. “This year, we would like to extend a special thanks to the volunteers who rearranged their calendars to join us a week later than usual.”

This year, more than 21,547 pieces of food/beverage-related trash were picked up, including 3,509 food wrappers, 2,361 plastic beverage bottles, 1,203 beverage cans, 712 glass bottles and 2,882 paper, plastic and foam cups, plates and take-out containers. In a year when the numbers of most trash items were lower, the count of three plastic items increased: 2,738 straws, up from 1,898; 1,116 plastic lids, up from 993; and 7,026 plastic bottle caps, up from 4,636. Other notable items included 1,946 plastic bags, 32 tires, 235 shotgun shells, 8,885 cigarette butts and cigar tips, and 723 balloons.

Some of the more unusual items found during this year’s cleanup were: a dishwasher, a message in a bottle from 2007, a knife in a sheath, mattress springs, scissors, contact lens case, power cord, charcoal grill, pirate hat, utility knife, car muffler, beach chair, bushel baskets, street sign, key card, glow stick, ink cartridge, pacifier, pith helmet, car console, golf club handle, metal canopy frame, and a wide variety of clothing and shoes including sneakers, flip flops, and jeweled sandals, as well as numerous balls and toys, including a troll doll, an Incredibles action figure, a Nintendo game controller, and a Rubik’s Cube.

Delaware’s next Coastal Cleanup is set for Saturday, Sept. 14, 2019. Registration will be posted on DNREC’s website next July, with groups of 10 or more encouraged to pre-register beginning May 1 by calling 302-739-9902 or emailing Delaware Coastal Cleanup Coordinator Joanna Wilson at Joanna.wilson@delaware.gov.

DNREC organizes Delaware’s Coastal Cleanup with co-sponsors including Edgewell Personal Care/Playtex Manufacturing Inc., which donates gloves; and Waste Management, which hauls trash and recyclables collected by volunteers. Delaware’s event is part of the Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup. The types and quantities of trash collected are recorded on data cards and forwarded to the Center for Marine Conservation, which compiles the information to help identify debris sources and focus efforts on elimination or reduction. For more information, please visit www.oceanconservancy.org.

Media contact: Joanna Wilson, DNREC Public Affairs, at 302-739-9902

Vol. 48, No. 336