Some interesting stats about McPherson

I don't know about you, but I find statistics very interesting. The Institute for Policy & Social Research has just released the 43rd edition of the Kansas Statistical Abstract.
Here's some facts about McPherson County
McPherson Count population in 2000 was 29,554.
It dropped by 510 to 29,044 in 2008.
Population is projected to grow to 30, 592 by 2020.
There are approximately 604K acres of land in McPherson County and 93.7% of that land is farmland.
McPherson County (212,105) is second only to Reno County (232,736) in the total number of acres of wheat harvested (and that's just because there are 200k more acres of land in Reno County). Kansas exported over $1B in wheat and products in 2007.

So, who cares? Statistics are fun but they are also easily manipulated. Some newspapers might proclaim population in McPherson County to be plummeting. For the purposes of tourism, I can see in what areas McPherson stands out. The fact that we are tops in wheat production gives me ideas for marketing.
The full abstract is at http://www.ipsr.ku.edu/ksdata/ksah/KSA43.pdf if you'd like to look at it further. Take from it what you will. It's a fascinating read.