LDPM-224, February 14, 2013
Cattle herd rebuilding was thrown a curve in 2012. Drought and weather conditions will determine inventory dynamics in 2013.
SSSM-294, February 14, 2013
The Sugar and Sweetener Outlook for February 2013 reviews the sugar and sweetener outlook for the United States and Mexico, emphasizing changes made in the February 2013 World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report. Also included is a special chapter on USDA long term projections of...
CWS-13b, February 12, 2013
The latest USDA projections for U.S. and world cotton supply and demand are included, along with U.S. textile trade. The selected tables were only updated in February; tables 3-5 will be included again in March.
FDS-13B, February 12, 2013
Market analysis of domestic and international feed grain markets.
OCS-13B, February 12, 2013
Each month,the Oil Crops Outlook analyzes the major changes and events in the world market for oilseeds and oilseed products.
RCS-13B, February 12, 2013
The February 2013 Rice Situation & Outlook report will contain projections for the 2012/13 U.S. and global rice markets. The report is done 12 times a year and relies on the most current World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates.
WHS-13b, February 12, 2013
The outlook for both the U.S. and global wheat markets are analyzed based on the latest projections contained in the World Agricultural Supply and Uses Estimates report.
OCE-131, February 11, 2013
USDA's 10-year projections for the food and agriculture sector cover major agricultural commodities, agricultural trade, and aggregate indicators of the U.S. farm sector, such as farm income and food prices.
EIB-107, February 04, 2013
An analysis of the potential impact of tax reform proposals on farm businesses and rural households in the United States.
WHS-13A-01, February 04, 2013
During the 2000s, the three major grain-producing countries of the former Soviet Union--Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine (KRU)--became a large grain-exporting region. This report examines why this has happened and also provides the outlook for the region’s production and exports over the next 10 yea...
EB-22, January 30, 2013
Beginning farmers and ranchers have some unique characteristics, including more education and more off-farm jobs, compared with established farmers and ranchers.
LDPM-223, January 17, 2013
With the new year continues the same drought as well and its continued negative impacts on the cattle sector.
SSSM-293, January 17, 2013
The Sugar and Sweetener Outlook for January 2013 reviews the sugar and sweetener outlook for the United States and Mexico, emphasizing changes made in the January 2013 World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report.
CWS-13a, January 15, 2013
The Cotton and Wool tables analyze the changes for the cotton and wool products.
EIB-106, January 15, 2013
This paper discusses the mechanisms by which water is allocated between agriculture and energy in Central Asia and presents scenario results that simulate the impacts on production and trade.
FDS-13A, January 15, 2013
Market analysis of domestic and international feed grain markets
OCS-13A, January 15, 2013
Each month, the Oil Crops Outlook analyzes the major changes and events in the world market for oilseeds and oilseed products.
RCS-13a, January 15, 2013
The January 2013 Rice Situation & Outlook report will contain projections for the 2012/13 U.S. and global rice markets. The report is done 12 times a year and relies on the most current World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates.
WHS-13A, January 15, 2013
The outlook for both the U.S. and global wheat markets are analyzed based on the latest projections contained in the World Agricultural Supply and Uses Estimates report
ERR-144, January 10, 2013
This report examines the effects of disabilities on household food security using newly available data on disabilities among adults from the Current Population Survey. The research considers both adults who are unable to work due to their disabilities, and adults with disabilities that do not neces...
RCS-12l-01, December 31, 2012
Southeast Asia dominates the world’s rice trade as the leading source of rice exports and the second-largest importing region. This region’s rice surplus of exports over imports has grown steadily over the past decade and the USDA projects that it will remain large over the next decade.
TB-1936, December 31, 2012
Assessment of five potential technical enhancements to the methods USDA uses to measure household food security.
EIB-105, December 27, 2012
The increased popularity and lower nutritional quality of food away from home (FAFH) prompts new health promotion strategies. Over the past 30 years, food at home has changed more in response to dietary guidance than FAFH, particularly for fat and calcium content.
EIB-104, December 20, 2012
Most U.S. cotton is produced on very large diversified farm operations, with cotton often constituting a small share of these operations’ total acres.
FTS-354, December 18, 2012
Total citrus production forecast to remain stable in 2012/13.
VGS-352, December 18, 2012
This issue covers basic supply, demand, price, and trade analysis for fresh market vegetables, processing vegetables, dry beans, dry peas and lentils, and sweet potatoes. Features include a discussion how ERS forecasts retail vegetable prices and 2012 vegetable pricing.
LDPM-222, December 17, 2012
Smaller Dairy Herd Expected in 2013.
SSSM-292, December 17, 2012
The Sugar and Sweetener Outlook reviews the sugar and sweetener outlook for the United States and Mexico, emphasizing changes made in the most recent month’s of the World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report.
EB-21, December 13, 2012
Rural America At A Glance, 2012 Edition highlights the most recent indicators of social and economic conditions in rural areas for use in developing policies and programs to assist rural areas. This year's edition focuses on the U.S. rural economy, including employment trends, poverty, and populatio...
FDS-12L, December 13, 2012
Market analysis of domestic and international feed grain markets.
WHS-12L, December 13, 2012
The outlook for both the U.S. and global wheat markets are analyzed based on the latest projections contained in the World Agricultural Supply and Uses Estimates report.
CWS-12i, December 12, 2012
The latest USDA projections for U.S. and world cotton supply and demand are presented and discussed in this report. Relevant fiber data tables and charts are also provided.
OCS-12L, December 12, 2012
ERS -- working closely with the World Agricultural Outlook Board, the Foreign Agricultural Service, and other USDA agencies -- conducts market analysis and provides short- and long-term projections of U.S. and world agricultural production, consumption, and trade.
RCS-12L, December 12, 2012
The outlook for both the U.S. and global rice markets are analyzed based on the latest projections contained in the World Agricultural Supply and Use Estimates report.
Amber Waves, December 05, 2012
Though generally perceived to be an urban problem, concentrated poverty is on the rise in rural areas.
Amber Waves, December 03, 2012
U.S. agriculture entered the most recent recession better positioned than most U.S. industries, was less affected by the recession than most other U.S. industries, and is likely to continue to do well in the years ahead.
Amber Waves, December 03, 2012
Replacing calorie-dense snack foods with fruits and vegetables can be one step in addressing childhood obesity and does not have to compromise a family’s food budget.
Amber Waves, December 03, 2012
Multinational companies are strengthened by global research networks that facilitate the development of new technologies.
AES-76, November 29, 2012
This outlook report offers, on a quarterly basis, the U.S. agricultural import and export outlook, as well as the year-to-date value and volume of U.S. agricultural exports and imports, by commodity and region.
ERR-143, November 28, 2012
Efforts to encourage Americans to improve their diets and to eat more nutritious foods presume that a wide variety of these foods are accessible to everyone. But for some Americans and in some communities, access to healthy foods may be limited. Using population data from the 2010 Census, income a...
ERR-142, November 27, 2012
Certain specialty crops produced in other countries have gained better access to U.S. markets since 2007, when USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service changed its regulatory protocols for phytosanitary (plant health) concerns. One treatment option allowed under the 2007 protocols is irradi...
EIB-103, November 16, 2012
Since 2003, direct payments have accounted for a significant portion of farm program payments. If direct payments were eliminated, many agricultural producers would be affected, both through the loss of income and potential declines in land values and rental rates. This report considers the potentia...
LDPM-221, November 16, 2012
Meat production is trimmed in 2013.
SSSM-291, November 15, 2012
The Sugar and Sweetener Outlook reviews the sugar and sweetener outlook for the United States and Mexico, emphasizing changes made in the most recent month’s of the World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report.
EB-20, November 14, 2012
Nitrogen is a critical input in agriculture, enabling farmers to produce high crop yields profitably. However, nitrogen compounds released into the environment are a source of environmental problems, including eutrophication and hypoxia in aquatic ecosystems, visibility-impairing haze, and the loss ...
FDS-12K, November 14, 2012
Market analysis of domestic and international feed grain markets.
WHS-12K, November 14, 2012
The outlook for both the U.S. and global wheat markets are analyzed based on the latest projections contained in the World Agricultural Supply and Uses Estimates report.
OCS-12-k, November 13, 2012
ERS -- working closely with the World Agricultural Outlook Board, the Foreign Agricultural Service, and other USDA agencies -- conducts market analysis and provides short- and long-term projections of U.S. and world agricultural production, consumption, and trade.
RCS-12K, November 13, 2012
The outlook for both the U.S. and global rice markets are analyzed based on the latest projections contained in the World Agricultural Supply and Uses Estimates report.
EIB-102, November 08, 2012
The nutritional quality of Americans’ diets has increasingly become a focus of economic
research due to its effects on health outcomes. Health care and other costs associated
with obesity, overweight, diabetes, and other diet-related ailments continue to swell.
This study focuses on consumers’ groce...
EIB-101, October 31, 2012
Almost a third of U.S. farm households generate income by engaging in business
ventures independent of commodity production, with distinctly different community and
household benefits. In 2007, 686,600 farm households engaged in 791,000 income-generating
activities distinct from commodity production...
CWS-12h01, October 23, 2012
Uzbekistan is one of the world’s largest cotton exporters, but output and exports are in a long-term decline, in part because the government heavily taxes cotton producers.
LDPM-220, October 17, 2012
Ample supplies of pork and poultry moderate prices.
SSSM-290, October 16, 2012
The Sugar and Sweetener Outlook reviews the sugar and sweetener outlook for the the United States and Mexico, emphasizing changes made in the most recent month’s of the World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report.
FDS-12J, October 15, 2012
Market analysis of domestic and international feed grain markets.
WHS-12J, October 15, 2012
The outlook for both the U.S. and global wheat markets are analyzed based on the latest projections contained in the World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report.
CWS-12h, October 12, 2012
The latest USDA projections for U.S. and world cotton supply and demand are presented and discussed in this report. Relevant fiber data tables and charts are also provided.
OCS-12J, October 12, 2012
ERS--working closely with the World Agricultural Outlook Board, the Foreign Agricultural Service, and other USDA agencies--conducts market analysis and provides short- and long-term projections of U.S. and world agricultural production, consumption, and trade.
RCS-12J, October 12, 2012
The outlook for both the U.S. and global rice markets are analyzed based on the latest projections contained in the World Agricultural Supply and Uses Estimates report.
FTS-353, September 27, 2012
Adverse weather is behind the forecast smaller U.S. apple, pear, and grape crops in 2012.
VGS-351, September 27, 2012
The farm value of all mushrooms totaled a record $1.1 billion in the 2011/12 crop year.
EB-19, September 21, 2012
This brief examines the funding and performance of agricultural R&D to assess the evolving roles of the public and private sectors in the U.S. agricultural research system. There is a clear, long-term trend toward greater private sector funding and performance of R&D. In 2007, the private sector p...
EIB-100, September 21, 2012
This study, based on 1976-2010 data, examines the relationship between U.S. economic conditions and participation in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s five largest nutrition assistance programs. It also describes how changes in program policy and other factors may have influenced this relationshi...
Amber Waves, September 20, 2012
Policies driving agricultural productivity growth include economic reforms that strengthen incentives for farmers, investments in R&D, and improved infrastructure.
Amber Waves, September 20, 2012
Farm real estate values increased considerably in recent years, with some States experiencing double-digit growth.
Amber Waves, September 20, 2012
Rural development efforts that create and maintain a broad portfolio of wealth may be central to sustainable rural prosperity.
Amber Waves, September 20, 2012
For many countries in the region, low yields and lagging labor productivity in agriculture present opportunities for improvement.
Amber Waves, September 20, 2012
Economic growth and population gains in developing countries and production of biofuels will continue to be a leading source of demand in the agricultural sector.
Amber Waves, September 20, 2012
Prices have an effect on people’s food choices, and related health outcomes, but they are not the only factor.
AP-059, September 19, 2012
Our Nation relies on the flow of objective, credible statistics to support the decisions of governments, businesses, households, and other organizations. Any loss of trust in the integrity of the Federal statistical system and its products can foster uncertainty about the validity of measures our Na...
LDPM-219, September 18, 2012
Impacts of high feed prices shake out across markets.
SSSM-289, September 17, 2012
The Sugar and Sweetener Outlook reviews the sugar and sweetener outlook for the United States and Mexico, emphasizing changes made in the most recent month's edition of the World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report.
FDS-12i, September 14, 2012
Market analysis of domestic and international feed grain markets.
WHS-12i, September 14, 2012
The outlook for both the U.S. and global wheat markets are analyzed based on the latest projections contained in the World Agricultural Supply and Uses Estimates report.
CWS-12g, September 13, 2012
The latest USDA projections for U.S. and world cotton supply and demand are presented and discussed in this report. Relevant fiber data tables and charts also are provided.
OCS-12i, September 13, 2012
ERS--working closely with the World Agricultural Outlook Board, the Foreign Agricultural Service, and other USDA agencies--conducts market analysis and provides short- and long-term projections of U.S. and world agricultural production, consumption, and trade.
RCS-12i, September 13, 2012
The outlook for both the U.S. and global rice markets is analyzed based on the latest projections contained in the World Agricultural Supply and Uses Estimates report.
AP-058, September 05, 2012
This Supplement contains statistics that complement those provided in the Economic Research Report, Household Food Security in the United States in 2011 (ERR-141). The Research Report provides the primary national statistics on household food security, food spending, and use of Federal food and nutr...
ERR-141, September 05, 2012
An estimated 85.1 percent of American households were food secure throughout the entire year in 2011, meaning that they had access at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members. The remaining households (14.9 percent) were food insecure at least some time during t...
EIB-99, September 04, 2012
This report relies on findings from several national surveys and current literature to assess water resource use and conservation measures within the U.S. irrigated crop sector. U.S. agriculture accounts for 80-90 percent of the Nation’s consumptive water use (water lost to the environment by evapor...
ERR-140, August 31, 2012
USDA’s Economic Research Service previously identified more than 6,500 food desert tracts in the United States based on 2000 Census and 2006 data on locations of supermarkets, supercenters, and large grocery stores. In this report, we examine the socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of thes...
AES-75, August 30, 2012
This outlook report offers, on a quarterly basis, the U.S. agricultural import and export outlook, as well as the year-to-date value and volume of U.S. agricultural exports and imports, by commodity and region.
ERR-139, August 23, 2012
Food away from home (FAFH) comprises nearly half of all U.S. consumer food expenditures. Hence, policies designed to influence nutritional outcomes would be incomplete if they did not address the role of FAFH. However, because of data limitations, most studies of the response of food demand to polic...
EIB-98, August 22, 2012
Agricultural Resources and Environmental Indicators, 2012, describes trends in economic, structural, resource, and environmental indicators in the agriculture sector, focusing on changes since the release of Agricultural Resources and Environmental Indicators, 2006. These indicators are useful to as...
LDPM-218, August 16, 2012
Drought-motivated increases in cow slaughter and feeder cattle movements have adversely affected all cattle and beef prices and plans to increase the national cow herd.
SSSM-288, August 15, 2012
The Sugar and Sweetener Outlook reviews the sugar and sweetener outlook for the United States and Mexico, emphasizing changes made in the most recent month’s edition of the World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report.
TB-1934, August 15, 2012
The ERS Eating and Health Module, a supplement to the American Time Use Survey (ATUS), included questions on height and weight so that respondents’ Body Mass Index (BMI—a measure of body fat based on height and weight) could be calculated and
analyzed with ATUS time-use data in obesity research. So...
FDS-12H, August 14, 2012
Market analysis of domestic and international feed grain markets.
WHS-12H, August 14, 2012
The outlook for both the U.S. and global wheat markets are analyzed based on the latest projections contained in the World Agricultural Supply and Uses Estimates report.
CWS-12f, August 13, 2012
The latest USDA projections for U.S. and world cotton supply and demand are presented and discussed in this report. Relevant fiber data tables and charts also are provided.
OCS-12h, August 13, 2012
ERS -- working closely with the World Agricultural Outlook Board, the Foreign
Agricultural Service, and other USDA agencies -- conducts market analysis and
provides short- and long-term projections of U.S. and world agricultural production,
consumption, and trade
RCS-12h, August 13, 2012
The outlook for both the U.S. and global rice markets are analyzed based on the latest projections contained in the World Agricultural Supply and Uses Estimates report.
ERR-138, August 09, 2012
Reciprocal trade agreements (RTAs), which grant special preferences to members, affect the pattern and volume of bilateral trade in global markets. This study uses the gravity framework and panel data depicting annual trade between 69 countries over 31 years to examine how 11 RTAs have shaped U.S. a...
FDS-12G-01, August 09, 2012
Exports to China have become a significant source of demand for U.S. Distillers Dried Grains with Solubles (DDGS), the primary co-product from corn-based ethanol production.
TB-1933, July 18, 2012
This report documents the updated version of the Partial Equilibrium Agricultural
Trade Simulation (PEATSim) model developed by USDA’s Economic Research Service.
PEATSim is a global model, covering 31 commodities and 27 countries/regions. The
model, consistent with economic theory, provides a fle...
LDPM-217, July 17, 2012
Beef/Cattle: Following on the heels of last year’s drought, this year’s lack of adequate rainfall over more than half of the United States has resulted in rapidly deteriorating crop and pasture conditions that have driven corn prices higher and cattle prices lower.
SSSM-287, July 16, 2012
The Sugar and Sweetener Outlook reviews the sugar and sweetener outlook for the United States and Mexico, emphasizing changes made in the most recent month’s edition of the World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report.
FDS-12G, July 13, 2012
U.S. feed grain supplies for 2012/13 are projected sharply lower this month with lower
production for corn on lower yields. Extremely hot weather and drought result in a 20-
bushel-per-acre decline in the projected corn yield to 146 bushels per acre reducing
projected production to 13.0 billion b...
WHS-12G, July 13, 2012
Projected U.S. wheat supplies for 2012/13 are raised 5 million bushels, with higher
estimated beginning stocks more than offsetting lower forecast production. Beginning stocks
were reported in the June 29 Grain Stocks report 15 million bushels above last month’s
projection. Feed and residual disa...
CWS-12e, July 12, 2012
The latest USDA projections for U.S. and world cotton supply and demand are presented and discussed in this report. Relevant fiber data tables and charts also are provided.
OCS-12G, July 12, 2012
ERS--working closely with the World Agricultural Outlook Board, the Foreign Agricultural Service, and other USDA agencies--conducts market analysis and provides short- and long-term projections of U.S. and world agricultural production, consumption, and trade.
RCS-12G, July 12, 2012
There were several major revisions to the 2012/13 U.S. rice balance sheet this month. On the supply side, the 2012/13 carryin was increased 5.0 million cwt to 34.5 million cwt. A higher area estimate raised the 2012/13 production forecast 8.0 million cwt to 191.0 million cwt. In contrast, 2012/13 im...
ERR-137, July 09, 2012
The Brazilian agricultural sector has been transformed from a traditional system of production with low use of modern technologies to a world agricultural leader. That transformation occurred as the country moved away from import-substitution policies—which nurtured domestic
industrial development ...
GFA-23, July 09, 2012
Food security is estimated to improve slightly in 2012 as the number of food-insecure people in the 76 countries covered in this report declines from 814 million in 2011 to 802 million in 2012. The share of the population that is food insecure remains at 24 percent. Over the next decade, the share o...
ERR-136, July 06, 2012
Global climate models predict increases over time in average temperature worldwide,
with significant impacts on local patterns of temperature and precipitation. The extent to
which such changes present a risk to food supplies, farmer livelihoods, and rural communities
depends in part on the directio...
FDS-12F-01, July 03, 2012
An early corn harvest—before the August 31 end of the previous marketing year—creates an overlap of supply-and-use data between the old and new marketing years that can alter the patterns of corn use and ending stocks, with implications for official USDA projections and estimates.
FTS-352, June 28, 2012
This season’s Southern Hemisphere blueberry shipments to the United States (primarily from Chile) have already ended and sourcing has now transitioned to domestic production. Current domestic pricing for fresh blueberries is above last year’s, caused by an early finish to Chilean shipments this wint...
VGS-350, June 28, 2012
Prices at the point of first sale remain low for most fresh-market vegetables and
consumer prices also fell in the first 5 months of 2012. Volumes are strong as mild
winter and early spring temperatures allowed early planting in many areas. Per capita use
of fresh-market vegetables fell less than...
EIB-97, June 20, 2012
Indonesia’s food market has changed in response to a changing and growing economy. The report examines changes in the food consumption pattern and measures the growth of modern food retail chains, packaged food purchases, and food imports in the world’s fourth-most-populous country. The evidence sug...
LDPM-216-01, June 19, 2012
This report evaluates the availability of slaughter and processing facilities for local meat production and the extent to which these may constrain or support growth in demand for locally sourced meats.
LDPM-216, June 18, 2012
Beef/Cattle: Producers are beginning to market calves and beef cows at increasing
levels as pasture and range conditions begin to deteriorate. Projected cattle feeding
margins are increasingly negative at current price levels. Packer margins are currently
positive, but declining byproduct values ...
SSSM-286, June 18, 2012
U.S. deliveries of total sweeteners for human food and beverage use for 2011 are
estimated at 20.381 million tons, almost the same as the deliveries in 2010 of 20.387
million tons. Refined sugar deliveries increased by 1.6 percent, while corn sweetener
deliveries fell by 1.7 percent. Within the c...
FDS-12F, June 14, 2012
The 2012/13 U.S. corn balance sheet is unchanged this month. Corn ethanol use
for 2011/12 is projected up 50 million bushels this month to 5,050 million as recent
ethanol production data have been stronger than expected. While slowing from its
peak in December 2011, ethanol production and use has...
WHS-12F, June 14, 2012
Projected U.S. wheat supplies for 2012/13 are lowered 51 million bushels with reduced carryin
and lower forecast winter wheat production. Beginning stocks are lowered 40 million bushels
with a 10-million-bushel increase in food use and a 30-million-bushel increase in exports for
2011/12. The incr...
CWS-12d, June 13, 2012
The latest U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) projections for 2012/13 indicate that
world cotton stocks are expected to rise for the third consecutive season, reaching a new
record. Global ending stocks are currently projected at 74.5 million bales for 2012/13,
nearly 11 percent or 7.2 million...
OCS-12F, June 13, 2012
Export shipments of U.S. soybeans for 2011/12 are forecast up 20 million bushels this month to 1.335 billion. And the 2011/12 soybean crush is forecast 15 million bushels higher this month to 1.66 billion based on higher demand for soybean meal. Higher soybean demand would further reduce U.S. season...
RCS-12F, June 13, 2012
There were several revisions this month to both the 2011/12 and 2012/13 U.S. rice
balance sheets. For 2011/12, total exports were raised 4.0 million cwt to 101.0 million,
with milled rice accounting for all of the increase. On the 2011/12 supply side, imports
were lowered 0.5 million cwt to 20.0 ...
Amber Waves, June 05, 2012
Private sector firms becoming leaders in developing new innovations in agriculture.
Amber Waves, June 05, 2012
Agricultural markets value the situation and outlook information published in WASDE.
Amber Waves, June 05, 2012
Changes being considered would affect the market for hired farm labor.
Amber Waves, June 05, 2012
SNAP is particularly effective in lessening poverty among children.
ERR-133, May 30, 2012
This study provides a quantitative assessment of food security using a large household-level expenditure survey conducted by the Government of India during 2004/05. The analysis tests the impact of several key assumptions required to estimate actual calories consumed from the expenditure data. The a...
ERR-135, May 22, 2012
Large shifts in the supply of foreign-born, hired farm labor resulting from substantial changes in U.S. immigration laws or policies could have significant economic implications. A computable general equilibrium (CGE) model of the U.S. economy is used to evaluate how changes in the supply of foreign...
WRS-1201, May 22, 2012
U.S. agriculture was better positioned than most United States industries entering the recession, was less affected by the recession than most other industries, and is well positioned to continue to do well as the economy recovers.
OCS-12e, May 17, 2012
Using a long-term yield trend of 43.9 bushels per acre and an estimated harvested area
of 73 million acres, the U.S. soybean crop for 2012 is projected up 5 percent to 3.205
billion bushels. Fast early shipments are forecast to raise U.S. soybean exports for
2012/13 to a record 1.505 billion bush...
EIB-96, May 16, 2012
Most Americans consume diets that do not meet Federal dietary recommendations. A common explanation is that healthier foods are more expensive than less healthy foods. To investigate this assumption, the authors compare prices of healthy and less healthy foods using three different price metrics: th...
ERR-134, May 16, 2012
Since 2002, USDA’s Rural Business and Industry (B&I) Loan Guarantee program has increased its emphasis on farm-related business activities associated with renewable energy, local/regional food, and value-added agriculture. Other new programs and program modifications also have focused on these and o...
LDPM-215, May 16, 2012
Improved soil moisture conditions have improved the outlook for corn and
wheat. Despite positive profit margins in other cattle and beef sectors, cattle feeders
continue to endure negative profit margins.
SSSM-285, May 15, 2012
Projected U.S. sugar supply for fiscal year (FY) 2013 is down 2.4 percent from FY 2012, as lower imports more than offset higher production and beginning stocks. Higher beet sugar production reflects higher area and trend yields, while cane sugar production is nearly unchanged from a year earlier. ...
FDS-12e, May 14, 2012
As of May 6, 71 percent of the U.S. corn crop had been planted, compared with an
average of 47 percent in 2007-11 and 32 percent in 2011/12. As of the same date, 32
percent of the expected crop had emerged, compared with an average of 13 percent in
2007-11 and 6 percent last year. Early planting ...
WHS-12e, May 14, 2012
The 2012/13 outlook for U.S. wheat is for larger supplies and use, but lower prices. All wheat production is projected at 2,245 million bushels, up 12 percent from last year’s weather-reduced crop and the highest since 2008/09.
RCS-12e, May 11, 2012
The total supplies of U.S. rice in 2012/13 are projected at 239.0 million hundred weight (cwt), a decline of 6 percent from a year earlier and the smallest since 2000/01. A big decline in carryin and a slightly smaller crop are projected to more than offset higher imports.
SSSM-270, May 08, 2012
The two primary determinants of U.S. sugar supply and use over the long-term projection period are the sugar and
energy provisions of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (2008 Farm Act) and reliance on sugar
imports from Mexico to maintain a balance in the U.S. sugar market.
EIB-95, April 18, 2012
Federal agencies that are charged with giving dietary advice to consumers—the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services—recommend that consumers keep their intake of trans fatty acids as low as possible. To that end, Federal regulations now require food labe...
LPDM-214, April 16, 2012
While prospects for pastures and a corn crop have improved over
conditions in 2011, events have combined with high retail beef prices to pressure cattle
and wholesale beef prices lower.
SSSM-284, April 16, 2012
On March 30, 2012, the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) published Prospective Plantings, with forecasts included for planted-area intentions for the 2012/13 U.S. sugarbeet crop. Planted area is forecast at 1.241 million acres. While this amount is less than a percentage point above la...
CWS-12b, April 12, 2012
The latest U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) cotton forecast for 2011/12 projects global cotton consumption to decrease for the second consecutive season. With recent high cotton prices that encouraged fiber substitution and the global economic uncertainty facing consumers, world mill use is pr...
FDS-12d, April 12, 2012
The U.S. feed grain balance sheet is unchanged from last month. The quarterly Stocks
Report confirmed continued tight feed grain supplies as of March 1. The Prospective
Plantings report pegged 2012 intended plantings of corn at 95.9 million acres, an
increase of 3.9 million acres from 2011.
WHS-12d, April 12, 2012
USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), in its March 31 Prospective Plantings, reported that all-wheat planted area for 2012 is forecast at 55.9 million acres, up 3 percent from the 2011 all-wheat planted area.
OCS-12d, April 11, 2012
USDA’s Prospective Plantings report in March indicated that U.S. farmers intend to reduce the acreage sown to soybeans this year by 1.4 percent to 73.9 million acres as expected returns for corn were more attractive. Also, growers intend this spring to increase U.S. sunflowerseed acreage by 17 perce...
RCS-12d, April 11, 2012
The first survey-based indication of 2012/13 U.S. rice plantings peg area at 2.56 million acres, down 5 percent from a year earlier and the smallest since 1987/88. Medium-grain accounts for all of the indicated decline. Growers indicated smaller plantings in all reported States except Louisiana and ...
ERR-132, April 09, 2012
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is one of the largest safety net programs in the United States, serving 44.7 million individuals in an average month in 2011. We used Current Population Survey data to examine the effect of SNAP on poverty from 2000 to 2009, by adding program bene...
FTS-351, March 30, 2012
USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) released its March citrus production forecast for marketing year 2011/12 on March 9. Total U.S. citrus production is forecast at 11.6 million tons, down less than 1 percent from 2010/11 and less than 1 percent below the initial October citrus fo...
VGS-349, March 30, 2012
Fresh-market vegetable supplies remain strong, pushing prices lower for most crops.
Market impacts from an early-year freeze in parts of Florida were minimal as production
was still largely in southern parts of the State. In 2011 (the first year of data availability)
organic fresh vegetable expor...
EIB-93, March 19, 2012
This report examines trends in USDA’s food and nutrition assistance programs through fiscal 2011. It also summarizes a number of ERS research reports on WIC-related topics that were released in fiscal 2011.
LDPM-213, March 15, 2012
Beef cow slaughter may be declining, and heifer retention to replace cows
may be in early stages. Cattle feeding margins are improving for the short term, but
packers are likely still seeing red. Retail prices may also be encountering some
consumer resistance.
EIB-94, March 14, 2012
In recent years, direct payments—a type of farm commodity program payment—have made up a large share of Federal agriculture assistance that could be withheld from farmers who fail to comply with highly erodible land conservation (conservation compliance and sodbuster) or wetland conservation (swampb...
ERR-131, March 14, 2012
This report presents a conceptual framework for rural wealth creation, drawing upon the U.S. and international development literature. The framework emphasizes the importance of multiple types of assets (physical, financial, human, intellectual, natural, social, political, and cultural capital) and ...
SSSM-283, March 14, 2012
Based on revised analysis of data from the Comite Nacional Para El Desarrollo Sustentable de la Cana de Azucar (CNDSCA), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) made corrections to its Mexico 2010/11 sugar supply and sweetener use from last month. Sugar for human consumption is estimated at 3.950 ...
FDS-12c, March 13, 2012
World 2011/12 coarse grain production and use are projected higher this month, but the increase in consumption is larger, trimming prospects for ending stocks. Brazil’s corn production and exports are increased based on higher area for second-crop corn.
Forecast EU corn feed use is increased, offse...
WHS-12c, March 13, 2012
U.S. wheat ending stocks for 2011/12 are projected 20 million bushels lower this month as lower food use is more than offset by higher exports.
CWS-12a, March 12, 2012
U.S. net textile and apparel fiber imports decreased in calendar year 2011 as a result of the sluggish U.S. economy. Total fiber product imports reached 17.2 billion raw-fiber-equivalent pounds in 2011, 7 percent below 2010 and the second lowest since 2004. Meanwhile, fiber product exports rose fo...
OCS-12c, March 12, 2012
Based on shrinking prospects for South American crops, USDA’s forecast of the 2011/12-average soybean price received by U.S. farmers fell to $11.40-$12.60 per bushel from $11.10-$12.30 last month. Similarly, USDA raised its forecast of the season-average price for soybean meal to $310-$340 per short...
RCS-12c, March 12, 2012
This month, USDA made several small revisions to the U.S. 2011/12 rice balance sheet. On the supply side, total imports were raised 1.0 million hundredweight (cwt) to 20.0 million cwt, up 5 percent from a year earlier and the first year-to-year increase since 2007/08.
Amber Waves, March 01, 2012
Rise in incomes in counties receiving funding from the Delta Regional Authority stemmed largely from investments in the health and social services sector.
Amber Waves, March 01, 2012
Unless the design of commodity programs changes substantially, current payment trends favoring larger farms are likely to continue.
Amber Waves, March 01, 2012
Because farm program designs and purposes vary, producers may participate in, and receive benefits from, multiple programs on the same farm, increasing the potential for overlap.
Amber Waves, March 01, 2012
Changing from a State-level trigger to a farm-level trigger could potentially result in higher payments and a higher ACRE signup rate.
Amber Waves, March 01, 2012
The weak economy played a major role but other factors also contributed to the increase in program participation over the last decade.
AES-73, February 23, 2012
Fiscal 2012 agricultural exports are forecast at $131 billion, down $1 billion from the November forecast and $6.4 billion below fiscal 2011. Compared to last year, grain and feed exports are forecast down $3.9 billion with wheat, corn, rice, and feeds all lowered, due to competition especially from...
EIB-92, February 22, 2012
Because farm real estate represents much of the value of U.S. farm sector assets, large swings in farmland values can affect the financial well-being of agricultural producers. This report examines both macroeconomic (interest rates, prices of alternative investments) and parcel-specific (soil quali...
LDPM-212, February 15, 2012
Increased replacement-heifer inventories may not be sufficient for cow
herd expansion in the face of the large numbers of cows being slaughtered. La Niña
remains in place and could adversely affect any expansion plans. Continued negative
profit margins for cattle feeders and meat packers, along w...
EB-18, February 14, 2012
Markets for farm-based environmental services are designed to allow farmers to sell “credits” for environmental improvements in water quality, carbon sequestration, wetlands restoration, and other areas. These markets use an environmental baseline to help determine whether proposed improvements qual...
SSSM-282, February 14, 2012
The Comite Nacional Para El Desarrollo Sustentable de la Cana de Azucar (CNDSCA)
in Mexico recently published revised supply and use data for 2010/11 and the Secretariat
of the Economy (Economia) released full marketing year data for sugar exports and
imports. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (...
FDS-12b, February 13, 2012
U.S. 2011/12 corn exports are increased 50 million bushels this month to 1.7 billion as
lower production prospects in Argentina reduce competition in global markets. U.S.
corn supplies are projected up slightly due to increased imports, but the larger increase in
exports leaves ending stocks down...
OCE-121, February 13, 2012
This report provides longrun (10-year) projections for the agricultural sector through 2021. Projections cover agricultural commodities, agricultural trade, and aggregate indicators of the sector, such as farm income and food prices.
WHS-12b, February 13, 2012
U. S. wheat ending stocks for 2011/12 are projected lower this month. Exports are raised 25 million bushels supported by the stronger-than-expected pace of sales and shipments, particularly for competitively priced feed-quality wheat.
OCS-12b, February 10, 2012
Despite a dimmer outlook for South American soybean production, U.S. exports for
2011/12 are expected to be unchanged at 1.275 billion bushels as an anticipated
upswing in sales may only narrow a large gap with last year’s pace of shipments.
Domestic processing margins for soybeans have not appre...
RCS-12b, February 10, 2012
There were no U.S. supply-side revisions this month. The total 2011/12 U.S. rice supply remains forecast at 252.5 million cwt, 15 percent below the year-earlier record. The U.S.
rice crop remains estimated at 185.0 million cwt, down 24 percent from the year-earlier
record. Beginning stocks of all-...
LDPM-21101, February 07, 2012
China’s pork prices, hog inventories, and pork imports tend to rise and fall in a cyclical pattern in response to various factors that influence supply and demand.
EIB-91, February 06, 2012
The distribution of commodity-related payments and Federal crop insurance indemnities to U.S. farmers has shifted to larger farms as more and more U.S. agricultural production is done on those farms. Since the operators of larger farms tend to have higher household incomes than other farm operators,...
LDPM-211, January 19, 2012
Beef/Cattle: Recent rains have provided some relief in the drought-affected Southern
United States, but La Niña is expected to continue her influence into 2012. Despite the
drought-induced sell-off of cattle in the South and record-high feed prices, prices for all
cattle have held up well in 2011...
SSSM-281, January 18, 2012
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) projects 2011/12 sugar production in
Mexico at 5.000 million metric tons (mt), a decrease of 330,000 mt from last month’s
projection. The forecast is based on lower than expected harvest progress through
January 7, 2012 and consequent implications for the...
FDS-12a, January 17, 2012
The National Agricultural Statistics Service's Crop Production 2011 Summary and
January Grain Stocks reports revealed larger than expected corn supplies this month.
Feed grain production for 2011/12 is estimated at 323.5 million tons, up 0.4 million from
last month as higher estimated corn produc...
WHS-12a, January 17, 2012
U.S. wheat ending stocks for 2011/12 are projected slightly lower this month as
reductions in expected domestic use mostly offset higher projected exports. Food use is
projected 5 million bushels lower based on flour production data recently reported by the
North American Millers’ Association for...
OCS-12a, January 13, 2012
The final estimate of the 2011 U.S. soybean crop was 3.056 billion bushels based on a
harvested acreage of 73.6 million acres and an average yield of 41.5 bushels per acre.
USDA lowered its 2011/12 forecast of soybean exports by 25 million bushels this
month to 1.275 billion while soybean crushin...
RCS-12a, January 13, 2012
This month, the 2011/12 U.S. rice crop estimate was lowered 3.1 million cwt to 185.0 million cwt, down 24 percent from the year-earlier record and the smallest U.S. rice crop since 1998/99. Production estimates were lowered for both long-grain and combined
medium- and short-grain rice.
TB-1932, January 05, 2012
This research evaluates the econometric approaches employed by USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) to contribute to the dairy sector forecasts published in the monthly World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report. To generate the estimates, a quarterly model of the U.S. dairy ind...
WHS-11L-01, January 04, 2012
Given expected increases in demand, imports are likely to grow in coming years even if Afghanistan’s rapid post-1990 production growth is sustained, suggesting growing dependence on supplies from Pakistan and other countries.
EIB-90, December 30, 2011
Meeting growing global demand for food, fiber, and biofuel requires robust investment in agricultural research and development (R&D) from both public and private sectors. This report highlights the major findings of a study examining global R&D spending by private industry in seven agricultural inpu...
ERR-130, December 30, 2011
Meeting growing global demand for food, fiber, and biofuel requires robust investment in agricultural research and development (R&D) from both public and private sectors. This study examines global R&D spending by private industry in seven agricultural input sectors, food manufacturing, and biofuel ...
ERR-129, December 29, 2011
Over the past two decades, private label food products have grown steadily in sales and often directly compete for market share with national brands. This competition lowers prices and increases product choices for consumers. This report analyzes the relationship between private label and national b...
EIB-89, December 19, 2011
The United States has a total land area of nearly 2.3 billion acres. In 2007, the major land uses were forestland at 671 million acres (30 percent); grassland pasture and rangeland at 614 million (27 percent); cropland at 408 million (18 percent); special uses (primarily parks and wildlife areas) at...
LDPM-210, December 15, 2011
Disproportionally large cow slaughter has kept average dressed weights
lower during most of 2011 than if steers had constituted half or more of beef slaughter, as they typically do. Packer margins and high feed and feeder cattle prices are exerting downward pressure on fed cattle prices.
AIS-91, December 14, 2011
Net farm income is forecast at $100.9 billion in 2011, up 28 percent from 2010 and 50 percent higher than the 10-year average of $67.4 billion for 2001-2010. Net cash income at $109.8 billion would be a nominal record, 19 percent above the prior record attained in 2010. Net value added is expected t...
WHS-11lt, December 13, 2011
U.S. wheat ending stocks for 2011/12 are projected 50 million bushels higher with reduced prospects for exports this month. Exports are lowered 50 million bushels with reductions projected for hard red winter, soft red winter, and white wheat.
OCS-11l, December 12, 2011
Based on higher competition and uniformly disappointing sales, USDA lowered its 2011/12 forecast of U.S. soybean exports by 25 million bushels this month to 1.3 billion.
RCS-11L, December 12, 2011
There were no revisions this month to the U.S. supply and use balance sheet. Total
supplies U.S. rice remain forecast at 255.5 million cwt, 14 percent below the year-earlier
record. The 2011/12 crop remains forecast at 188.1 million cwt, down almost 23
percent from the year-earlier record.
Amber Waves, December 09, 2011
The NAFTA governments are seeking more open trading relationships with non-NAFTA countries, such as China, Colombia, Panama, Japan, and South Korea, as well as increased commerce within the North American free-trade area.
EIB-88, December 02, 2011
Innovations in farm organization, business arrangements, and production practices have allowed farmers to produce more with less. Fewer labor hours and less land are used today than 30 years ago, and practices such as the use of genetically engineered seeds and no-till have dampened increases in mac...
Amber Waves, December 01, 2011
Local food marketing channels vary with farm size, with smaller farms dominating direct-to-consumer sales and larger farms dominating sales through grocers and other intermediaries.
Amber Waves, December 01, 2011
ERS research conducted over the past two decades provides a number of lessons that can help identify efficient and effective means of implementing the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2010.
Amber Waves, December 01, 2011
Changing production practices, including adoption of labor-saving innovations, have contributed to and been affected by increases in both agricultural productivity and the concentration of production.
Amber Waves, December 01, 2011
Brazil's ethanol industry has been aided by increased capacity to produce sugarcane as an ethanol feedstock, supportive government policies, and improved efficiency in sugarcane production and ethanol conversion.
EIB-87, November 22, 2011
This report provides a classification of types of overlap and a synthesis of ERS research about overlapping payments in the U.S. farm safety net, including how to identify and measure overlap among crop revenue insurance, ACRE, SURE, and ad hoc disaster assistance. Future research avenues are sugges...
LDPM-209-01, November 21, 2011
The report describes the many uses for animal byproducts—both inedible and edible—and estimates the volume of production of beef and pork variety meats in the United States in addition to the proportion of value added to the live animal from the byproducts. The value added to U.S. meat trade and the...
LDPM-209, November 16, 2011
Beef/Cattle: Drought continues to dominate non-fed slaughter, despite recent rains that provided temporary relief and promoted emergence of winter wheat in the Southern
Plains.
EIB-86, November 09, 2011
This report uses data from the 2006-08 ERS Eating & Health Module of the American Time Use Survey to present an overview of Americans’ eating and other food-related time use patterns, including grocery shopping and meal preparation, and teenage time use patterns in relation to school meals. On an av...
BIO-03, November 08, 2011
This report provides an overview of how the Renewable Identification Number (RIN) market works to ensure compliance with the Renewable Fuel Standard provision of the Energy Independence and Security Act, as well as how RIN prices are determined and which factors influence their prices.
ERR-128, November 04, 2011
This study uses nationally representative data on marketing of local foods to assess the relative scale of local food marketing channels. This research documents that sales through intermediated marketing channels, such as farmers’ sales to local grocers and restaurants, account for a large portion ...
LDPM-208, October 18, 2011
Drought-induced cow-herd liquidation has reduced average dressed weights and resulted in relatively more ground products but fewer middle cuts. Wheat pasture could be priced at a premium this winter. Cattle feeding margins remain negative despite higher fed cattle prices.
CWS-11h, October 13, 2011
The latest U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) cotton projections for 2011/12 indicate that the gap between foreign consumption and production is projected to decrease significantly this season and fall below 5 million bales for the first time since
2004/05 (fig. 1).
FDS: FEED OUTLOOK-11I01, October 13, 2011
Corn-based dry-mill ethanol production and its coproducts – notably distillers’ dried grains with soluble (DDGS) – have surged in recent years. The report estimates the potential substitution of DDGS for corn and soybean meal in livestock feeding and the impact of substitution upon the U.S. feed com...
EIB-84, October 12, 2011
The Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 eliminates direct and countercyclical payments (DCP) and average crop revenue election program payments to farms with 10 or fewer base acres. This report examines the effects of the provision. Findings suggest that Federal budgetary savings from the pro...
EIB-82, October 03, 2011
Food safety technology can increase a company’s capacity to prevent a foodborne contamination. A food safety audit—a quality control tool in which an auditor observes whether a plant’s processing practices and technologies are compatible with good food safety practices—can indicate how effectively f...
EIB-85, September 26, 2011
Rural America At A Glance, 2011 Edition highlights the most recent indicators of social and economic conditions in rural areas for use in developing policies and programs to assist rural areas. This year's edition focuses on the U.S. rural economy, including employment trends, poverty, education, an...
EIB-83, September 23, 2011
Over the last 20 years, awareness of diet-related health concerns has become widespread in the United States as obesity, along with its associated human and financial costs, has increased. To estimate how this awareness affects Americans’ perceptions of their own diet quality over this period and th...
ERR-127, September 22, 2011
Nitrogen is an important agricultural input that is critical for crop production. However, the introduction of large amounts of nitrogen into the environment has a number of undesirable impacts on water, terrestrial, and atmospheric resources. This report explores the use of nitrogen in U.S. agricul...
LDPM--207, September 16, 2011
Beef/Cattle: Drought conditions continue to result in Southern cows going to slaughter
and Southern calves going to feedlots. Also resulting from the drought, corn, and hay
prices are increasing as cow and fed cattle prices slip. Despite deteriorating feed-fed
cattle price relationships, feeder c...
ERR-126, September 15, 2011
The Average Crop Revenue Election, or ACRE, program is a commodity support program that bases coverage on aggregate State-level and individual farm-level revenue variability. Changing the level of aggregation from State to one closer to the farm level—Crop Reporting District or county—would generall...
SSSM-277, September 15, 2011
On September 12, 2011, the USDA released its latest U.S. and Mexico sugar supply and use estimates for fiscal year (FY) 2011 and projections for FY 2012 in the World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report. For FY 2011, the USDA increased its estimate of tariff-rate quota (TRQ) short...
EIB-81, September 14, 2011
In the past decade, hog production has increasingly become consolidated, with larger operations producing a greater volume of hog manure on smaller areas. With less cropland for spreading the manure, hog farmers may be compensating through more effective manure management. The authors use data from ...
AP-057, September 07, 2011
This Supplement provides statistics that complement those in the Economic Research Report Household Food Security in the United States in 2010 (ERR-125). The Research Report provides the primary national statistics on household food security, food spending, and use of Federal food and nutrition assi...
ERR-125, September 07, 2011
An estimated 85.5 percent of American households were food secure throughout the entire year in 2010, meaning that they had access at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members. The remaining households (14.5 percent) were food insecure at least some time during t...
Amber Waves, September 01, 2011
Faced with falling incomes and economic uncertainty, many Americans economized on their food purchases during the 2007-09 recession, particularly on food away from home.
Amber Waves, September 01, 2011
Food prices jumped in 2010-11, the second price spike within 3 years. Longer term financial, agricultural, and demographic trends, exacerbated by short-term production shortfalls, set up conditions for the increases.
Amber Waves, September 01, 2011
Afghanistan is particularly vulnerable to food and fuel price shocks, which, in 2007/08, led to an increase in household food insecurity.
Amber Waves, September 01, 2011
Agriculture is the single largest source of nitrogen compounds that can help or harm ecosystems. A range of policy instruments could be used to address different facets of nitrogen management and specific environmental problems.
Amber Waves, September 01, 2011
Federal farm programs, crop prices, and new technology may encourage farmers to extend crop production into native grasslands. A recent ERS study found that farm programs had a minor effect on conversions of grasslands to crop production.
Amber Waves, September 01, 2011
In exchange for exclusive sales arrangements, manufacturers provide large rebates to States for formula purchased through the program. Winning a WIC contract significantly increases a manufacturer's market share.
VGS-346, August 25, 2011
The farm value of all mushroom (Agaricus and others) sales during the 2010/11 crop year (July-June) reached a new high of $1 billion, up 8 percent from a year earlier. Partly reflecting modest gains in the economy, mushroom sales volume rose 9 percent to 862 million pounds, the second highest level ...
EIB-80, August 24, 2011
The adoption of precision agriculture, which encompasses a suite of farm-level information technologies, can improve the efficiency of input use and reduce environmental harm from the overapplication of inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides. Still, the adoption of precision agricultural technolo...
LDPM-206-01, August 22, 2011
This report characterizes Mexican feeder-calf and fed cattle production systems in the context of the imports of Mexican feeder cattle into the United States. The increase in cattle feeding in Mexico will increasingly affect U.S. feeder cattle imports and U.S. beef exports to Mexico in ambiguous way...
EIB-79, August 18, 2011
The recent 9-billion-gallon increase in corn-based ethanol production, which resulted from a combination of rising gasoline prices and a suite of Federal bioenergy policies, provides evidence of how farmers altered their land-use decisions in response to increased demand for corn. As some forecasts ...
ERR-123, August 18, 2011
Agricultural production is sensitive to changes in energy prices, either through energy consumed directly or through energy-related inputs such as fertilizer. A number of factors can affect energy prices faced by U.S. farmers and ranchers, including developments in the oil and natural gas markets, a...
ERR-124, August 18, 2011
The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) is the major purchaser of infant formula in the United States. To reduce cost to the WIC program, each State awards a sole-source contract to a formula manufacturer to provide its product to WIC participants in the Sta...
SSSM-276, August 16, 2011
On August 1, 2011, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 raw and refined sugar tariff-rate quotas (TRQs), an extension of the FY 2012 raw sugar TRQ time period, and an increase in the FY 2011 specialty sugar TRQ. The FY 2012 TRQ for raw cane sugar is set at 1,...
FTS-348, July 29, 2011
The index of prices received by fruit and tree nut growers in June, at 157 (1990-92=100),
rose 9 percent from the May index and increased 18 percent above the June 2010 index.
Year-to-year price increases in June for process grapefruit and fresh-market apples, grapes,
peaches, pears, and strawber...
EB-17, July 25, 2011
By 2050, global agricultural demand is projected to grow by 70-100 percent due to population growth, energy demands, and higher incomes in developing countries. Meeting this demand from existing agricultural resources will require raising global agricultural total factor productivity (TFP) by a simi...
FTS-347-01, July 25, 2011
This report uses data from USDA’s 2007 Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS) and other sources to examine trends in the U.S. apple sector and compare production and marketing characteristics under organic and conventional farming systems.
GFA-22, July 15, 2011
The number of food-insecure people in developing countries is estimated to decline about by 9 million, from 861 million in 2010 to 852 million in 2011 and the number is projected to decline by 16 percent, or nearly 140 million over the next decade. Food security in Asia and the Latin America and the...
ERR-121, July 12, 2011
To investigate the impact of rising staple food prices on household food security, we use a unique nationally representative household survey from Afghanistan, one of the world’s poorest, most food-insecure countries. The econometric framework allows us to control for household, district, and provin...
ERR-122, July 12, 2011
Over the past few decades, modern grocery retailing has been expanding rapidly in developing countries. The implications for food demand and trade are influenced by the extent to which modern food retailers focus primarily on growing preferences for nonprice characteristics, such as dietary diversit...
ERR-118, June 30, 2011
One factor that may be important in explaining rising childhood obesity is food prices. This report explores the effect of food prices on children’s Body Mass Index (BMI) using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 (ECLS-K) and the Quarterly Food-at-Home Pri...
ERR-120, June 30, 2011
Native grasslands in the U.S. Northern Plains, particularly those located in the Prairie Pothole Region, are excellent breeding habitat for migratory birds. The conversion of grassland to crop production could damage this habitat and affect bird populations. We focus on three questions: How fast are...
WRS-1103, June 28, 2011
The report describes the factors that have contributed to the large and rapid increase in agricultural prices during the past year. The report focuses particularly on food commodity prices—which have risen 60 percent since June 2010.
BIO-02, June 27, 2011
This report profiles and analyzes Brazil’s ethanol industry, providing information on the policy environment that enabled the development of feedstock and processing sectors, and discusses the various opportunities and challenges to face the industry over the next decade.
EIB-78, June 27, 2011
Although healthy foods can be affordable, if less healthy foods are cheaper, individuals may have an economic incentive to consume a less healthful diet. Using the Quarterly Food-at-Home Price Database, we explore whether a select set of healthy foods (whole grains, dark green vegetables, orange veg...
ERR-119, June 23, 2011
The Delta Regional Authority (DRA) began funding rural development projects in economically distressed counties in the Mississippi River Delta region in 2002. To assess the initial economic outcomes of DRA funding, we compared nonmetropolitan DRA counties with similar counties elsewhere in the same...
CWS-11d-01, June 17, 2011
This report identifies the factors contributing to the cycles in Brazil’s cotton production and exports that have made the country both an important market for U.S. cotton exports and now a competitor with U.S. cotton producers since 1990.
Amber Waves, June 16, 2011
Evidence shows FTAs increased trade among members, suggesting the large number of FTAs that do not include the U.S. may be eroding the U.S. presence in foreign markets.
Amber Waves, June 16, 2011
Though standard economic approaches may be difficult to apply to evaluations of some benefits of public investments in ag. research, economic reasoning can provide qualitative analysis even when benefits are difficult to quantify.
Amber Waves, June 16, 2011
Increased use of the tax code for policy goals has boosted incomes of rural taxpayers, who tend to have lower incomes and higher poverty than urban taxpayers.
Amber Waves, June 16, 2011
Irradiation is an alternative treatment for foodborne pests on imported fruit and vegetables, but it requires labeling and large investments in facilities and some consumers remain wary of the process.
SSSM-274, June 14, 2011
On May 19, 2011, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released the World Production, Supply and Distribution (PSD) for centrifugal sugar. World exports are projected to increase 3.1 million metric tons raw value (MTRV) to 55.7 million MTRV in 2011/12. Significant export growth is expected in Br...
Amber Waves, June 13, 2011
Food spending by low-income households increased and their food security improved as a result of the increase in SNAP benefit levels authorized by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
EIB-77, May 26, 2011
The Fair and Equitable Tobacco Reform Act of 2004 eliminated tobacco quotas and tobacco price supports and allowed producers to plant any amount or type of tobacco regardless of geographic location. The authors found that flue-cured tobacco producers made greater adjustments to their operations afte...
GFA-21-01, May 25, 2011
Rising global food commodity prices have again focused attention on agriculture and food security. This report is an update to the July 2010 report, Food Security Assessment, 2010-20; it reviews the impact of high global food commodity prices on food security in 2010 in 70 lower income countries usi...
AP-056, May 16, 2011
Under the Program of Research on the Economics of Invasive Species Management (PREISM), ERS conducts intramural research and funds extramural research to support the economic basis of decisionmaking concerning invasive species issues, policies, and programs. The report, Program of Research on the Ec...
SSSM-273, May 16, 2011
The Sugar and Sweetener Team of the Economic Research Service (ERS) makes
calendar year estimates of total and per capita sweetener deliveries that are available for food
and beverage consumption by U.S. consumers. U.S. sweetener deliveries for 2010 were 131.9 pounds
per capita, up slightly fro...
WRS-1102, May 12, 2011
This report discusses Eurozone sovereign debt problems that began in 2010 and their potential consequences for the European Union (EU) and U.S. agriculture.
EIB-76, May 05, 2011
The authors analyze the increasing use of refundable tax credits targeted to low- and moderate-income households in the Federal individual income tax and determine their implications for rural America. To identify rural and urban households, the analysis matches a zip code approximation of the 2006 ...
EIB-75, May 04, 2011
The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) provides supplemental foods to low-income women, infants, and children at nutritional risk. Since October 2009, WIC packages have included a fixed-value voucher for purchasing fruits and vegetables. Although this shoul...
ERR-117, May 03, 2011
Over 42 million meals—31.2 million lunches and 11 million breakfasts—were served on a typical school day in fiscal year 2009 to children through USDA’s National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs. School food authorities (SFAs) operate local school feeding programs and deliver the meals to t...
ERR-116, April 26, 2011
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 increased benefit levels for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as the Food Stamp Program) and expanded SNAP eligibility for jobless adults without children. One goal of the program changes was to improve the food se...
LDPM-202-1, April 26, 2011
This report outlines the tendency for fed cattle from the Southern Plains to typically sell at a premium over cattle from the Northern Central Plains, describing the nuances in regional production and marketing practices that underlie the price relationship referred to as “the North-South spread.”
RCS-11d-01, April 21, 2011
This report examines how the structure of the U.S. rice industry has evolved over the past two decades, including a reduction in the number of farms, increased average farm size, and the shifting concentration of rice production away from higher-cost production regions. The authors analyze the econo...
ERR-115, April 15, 2011
Since 2001, the United States has concluded negotiations with 13 countries, resulting in 8 trade agreements (TAs). Three additional agreements have been negotiated but not yet ratified by Congress, as of March 2011. Other countries have become increasingly active in negotiating their own trade pacts...
ERR-113, April 12, 2011
The rapid increase in the number of bilateral and regional free-trade agreements since 1995 is a striking development. The proliferation of these agreements has raised questions about whether they have, in fact, opened markets, created trade, promoted economic growth, and/or distorted trade. This st...
SSSM-272, April 01, 2011
LMC International provides estimates of world sugar and high fructose syrup (HFS) costs of production. The data go
back to 1979/80 and extend through 2009/10. Field, factory, and administrative costs are detailed for 35 beet
producing countries and for 61 cane producing countries. HFS production c...
EIB-74, March 31, 2011
Most countries provide some level of support to their agricultural sectors. Because support can affect producers and consumers in other countries, a number of systems have been developed to measure agricultural support levels and classify types of support in ways that facilitate comparing them acros...
WRS-1101, March 31, 2011
This report is the last in USDA’s series of Congressionally mandated biennial reports on the impacts of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on U.S. agriculture and the rural economy. The report responds to a mandate in the North American Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act of 1993.
...
EIB-73, March 28, 2011
Beef cow-calf production in the United States is widespread, occurring in every State. Nearly 765,000 farms, about 35 percent of the 2.2 million farms in the United States, had a beef cow inventory in 2007. Most of these were small, part-time operations. About a third of farms that raise beef animal...
EIB-6-8, March 23, 2011
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) administers 15 domestic food and nutrition programs that provide a nutritional safety net for millions of children and low-income adults. The programs, which serve one in four Americans at some point during the year, are especially important during economic ...
TB-1929, March 22, 2011
In a 2003 report, International Evidence on Food Consumption Patterns, ERS economists estimated income and price elasticities of demand for broad consumption categories and food categories across 114 countries using 1996 International Comparison Program (ICP) data. This report updates that analysis ...
SSSM-271, March 15, 2011
Analysis of competitiveness in global sugar/sweetener markets is complicated by the fact that markets are generally
characterized by domestic and trade-related policy distortions that make it difficult to discern the underlying
competitive position of individual market participants.
Amber Waves, March 14, 2011
A 2010 Federal law will require U.S. chain restaurants to display calorie information on their menus and menu boards. Will consumers use this information to make healthier food choices?
Amber Waves, March 14, 2011
According to USDA long-term projections, continued income growth will make developing countries the main source of the projected increases in global food demand and trade.
Amber Waves, March 14, 2011
Currently, methane digesters’ costs often exceed their benefits to livestock producers, but higher prices in voluntary, regional, or national carbon markets could make them profitable for many operations.
ERR-112, February 24, 2011
The extent to which cost changes pass through a vertically organized production process depends on the value added by each producer in the chain as well as a number of other organizational and marketing factors at each stage of production. Using 36 years of monthly Bureau of Labor Statistics price i...
ERR-114, February 24, 2011
A new ERS food dollar series measures annual expenditures on domestically produced food by individuals living in the United States and provides a detailed answer to the question “For what do our food dollars pay?” This new data product replaces the old marketing bill series, which was discontinued d...
EIB-72, February 14, 2011
Marketing and production contracts covered 39 percent of the value of U.S. agricultural production in 2008, up from 36 percent in 2001, and a substantial increase over 28 percent in 1991 and 11 percent in 1969. However, aggregate contract use has stabilized in recent years and no longer suggests a s...
OCE-111, February 14, 2011
This report provides longrun (10-year) projections for the agricultural sector through 2020. Projections cover agricultural commodities, agricultural trade, and aggregate indicators of the sector, such as farm income and food prices.
ERR-110, February 11, 2011
This report considers how increased commodity prices might influence enrollment in and benefits from the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) using two complementary models: a likely-to-bid model that uses National Resources Inventory data to simulate offers to the general signup portion of the CRP an...
AP-054, February 10, 2011
The House Report 111-181 accompanying H.R. 2997, the 2010 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill, requested the USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) in conjunction with the Office of the Chief Economist, to conduct a study of land-use...
VGS-342-02, February 10, 2011
This report highlights the anticipated consequences of the 2008 Farm Act’s Planting Transferability Pilot Program (PTPP) on processing (pickling) cucumber plantings. PTPP allows program crop growers in seven Upper Midwestern States to reduce base acres and plant select vegetables for processing on t...
EB-16, February 07, 2011
Biogas recovery systems collect methane from manure and burn it to generate electricity or heat. Burning methane reduces its global warming potential, thereby reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Climate change mitigation policies that effectively put a price on GHG emissions could allow livesto...
ERR-111, February 07, 2011
Methane digesters—biogas recovery systems that use methane from manure to generate electricity—have not been widely adopted in the United States because costs have exceeded benefits to operators. Burning methane in a digester reduces greenhouse gas emissions from manure management. A policy or progr...
AP-055, February 04, 2011
The Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Program (FANRP) of the USDA Economic Research Service (ERS) invites applications to conduct research that focuses on USDA’s domestic food assistance and nutrition programs. The three priority research areas are (1) Food Assistance and the Macroeconomy, (2) ...
VGS-342-01, February 03, 2011
This report presents a financial snapshot of the U.S. vegetable and melon farms by region and farm size over three 3-year periods (1999-2007).
EIB-71, February 01, 2011
Federal dietary guidance advises Americans to consume more vegetables and fruits because most Americans do not consume the recommended quantities or variety. Food prices, along with taste, convenience, income, and awareness of the link between diet and health, shape food choices. We used 2008 Nielse...
AP--053, January 28, 2011
This report summarizes ERS's Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Program (FANRP) activities and accomplishments in fiscal 2010, including newly awarded projects and recent publications. FANRP supports intramural and extramural research on a wide range of policy-relevant food assistance and nutrit...
SSSM-269, January 18, 2011
In the World Agricultural Demand and Supply Estimates (WASDE) released on January 12,
2011, projected U.S. sugar supply for fiscal year (FY) 2011 is decreased 88,000 short tons,
raw value (STRV) from last month. Cane sugar production in Florida is reduced 100,000
STRV to 1.6 million STRV, based o...
TB-1927, January 03, 2011
The Food Availability (per capita) Data System developed by USDA’s Economic Research Service tracks annual food and nutrient availability for many commodities. The Food Availability data series in this system overstates actual consumption, so ERS has included an additional series, the Loss-Adjusted ...
ERR-109, December 28, 2010
Despite the health benefits of participation, many eligible households do not participate in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). While roughly half of infants born in the United States receive WIC benefits, USDA statistics indicate that eligible pregnan...
FTS-345-01, December 16, 2010
This report provides an overview of performance, advantages, and challenges of the Peruvian fruits and vegetables export industry. Three commodity case studies—asparagus, processed artichokes, and table grapes—highlight different degrees of competition with U.S. industries and impacts on U.S. grower...
AIS-90, December 15, 2010
Net farm income is forecast at $81.6 billion in 2010, up 31 percent from 2009 and 26 percent higher than the 10-year average of $64.8 billion for 2000 to 2009. Net cash income at $92.5 billion would be a nominal record, 2.3 percent above the prior record attained in 2008. Net value added is expected...
EIB-69, December 13, 2010
Organic food products are excellent candidates for contract production and marketing because they are produced using a distinct process and are in high demand. This report summarizes survey data on contracting in the organic sector, addressing the extent of contracting, the rationale for using contr...
TB-1928, December 13, 2010
This report examines retail purchase data for 12 dairy products and margarine from the Nielsen 2007 Homescan retail data. Selected demographic and socioeconomic variables included in the Nielsen data are analyzed for their effects on aggregate demand and expenditure elasticities for the selected pro...
AP--052, December 09, 2010
The Economic Research Service conducts research to estimate the market effects of climate change and adaptation in the agricultural sector and to assess the implications of alternative climate and energy policies. A fact sheet outlines the agency’s program of work.
FDS-10k-01, December 09, 2010
Growth in corn dry-mill ethanol production has surged in the past several years, simultaneously creating a coproduct—distillers’ grains (DDGS). Many in the U.S. feed industry were concerned about the size of this new feed source and whether it could be used entirely by the feed industry, but they al...
VGS-341-01, December 01, 2010
This report examines the significance of dry bean trade to the member countries of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), provides a detailed understanding of supply, demand, and policy in the U.S. and Mexican dry bean sectors, and considers the outlook for these industries.
AP-051, November 24, 2010
This report summarizes research findings from the Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Innovation and Development Grants in Economics Program (RIDGE), formerly known as the Small Grants Program. The Economic Research Service created the program in 1998 to stimulate new and innovative research on f...
LDPM-196-01, November 18, 2010
This report characterizes Mexican beef cow-calf production systems in the context of the many issues affecting Mexican beef and cattle markets, including geo-climatic factors, disease and pest challenges, patterns of landownership, changes in export regions, and changes in domestic consumption as th...
ERR-106, November 12, 2010
Fruit and vegetable production is a labor-intensive process, and over half of the hired workers employed by growers are believed to be unauthorized immigrants. Reforms to immigration laws, if they reduce the labor supply, may increase the cost of farm labor. The authors of this report assess how par...
ERR-107, November 12, 2010
Population loss through net outmigration is endemic to many rural areas. Over a third of nonmetro counties lost at least 10 percent of their population through net outmigration over 1988-2008. Some of these counties have had very high poverty rates, substantial loss in manufacturing jobs, and high u...
AIS-89, November 10, 2010
The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act makes significant changes to Federal regulation of the U.S. over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives market, with the goals of improving market transparency and reducing systemic default risk. This article reviews some important features of the...
AP-050, November 10, 2010
The Senate Report 111-039 accompanying S. 1406, the 2010 Agriculture Appropriations Bill, requested that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Economic Research Service (ERS) prepare and publish a report regarding consumer perceptions of canned fruits and vegetables. In the absence of consumer...
ERR-108, November 10, 2010
Eighty-five percent of American households were food secure throughout the entire year in 2009, meaning that they had access at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members. The remaining households (14.7 percent) were food insecure at least some time during the yea...
EIB-70, November 02, 2010
Most U.S. farmers prepare their soil for seeding and weed and pest control through tillage—plowing operations that disturb the soil. Tillage practices affect soil carbon, water pollution, and farmers’ energy and pesticide use, and therefore data on tillage can be valuable for understanding the pract...
ERR-105, October 22, 2010
Nontraditional stores, including mass merchandisers, supercenters, club warehouse and dollar stores, have increased their food offerings over the past 15 years and often promote themselves as lower priced alternatives to traditional supermarkets. How much lower are food prices at these stores? In or...
ERR-102, October 21, 2010
Achieving greater energy security by reducing dependence on foreign petroleum is a goal of U.S. energy policy. The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA) calls for a Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS-2), which mandates that the United States increase the volume of biofuel that is blended int...
ERR-104, October 04, 2010
Based on 2 days of dietary data and panel data methods, this study includes estimates of how each child’s consumption of food away from home, food from school (which includes all foods available for purchase at schools, not only those offered as part of USDA reimbursable meals), and caloric sweetene...
FTS-344-01, October 04, 2010
This report analyzes the remarkable growth in China’s apple juice concentrate exports since the 1990s and the factors behind the growth. The industry is a prime example of how capital investment and government policies bring China’s labor-intensive agricultural products into the world market in the ...
ERR-103, October 01, 2010
USDA’s Economic Research Service uses the Food Assistance National Input-Output Multiplier (FANIOM) model to represent and measure linkages between USDA’s domestic food assistance programs, agriculture, and the U.S. economy. This report describes the data sources and the underlying assumptions and s...
ERR-101, September 17, 2010
Crop revenue variability, which differs across crops and their growing regions and the geographic levels at which revenue is measured, is the focus of the Average Crop Revenue Election, an agricultural commodity program that was first available to producers in 2009. Using an empirically-based simula...
EIB-68, September 13, 2010
Rural America At A Glance, 2010 Edition highlights the most recent indicators of social and economic conditions in rural areas for use in developing policies and programs to assist rural areas. The 2010 edition focuses on the U.S. rural economy, including employment trends, poverty, and demographics...
EB-15, September 07, 2010
Agriculture could play a prominent role in U.S. efforts to address climate change if farms and ranches undertake activities that reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions or take greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere. These activities may include shifting to conservation tillage, reducing the amount of...
LDPM-194-01, August 30, 2010
This report provides a broad overview of the beef market in Japan, including consumer’s preferences, domestic production practices, domestic and trade policies, and market outlook.
WHS-10H01, August 25, 2010
This report provides the results of ERS research on the economic consequences of ending the USDA Karnal bunt certification program for U.S. exports to countries that ban import of wheat from countries known to have the disease. USDA currently issues certificates that U.S. wheat shipments are from ar...
LDPM-193-01, August 12, 2010
Cheese production and markets have emerged as important elements of the dairy industry over the past three decades. Supply-and-use analysis shows an upward trend in total cheese consumption over the past three decades. Nielsen 2005 retail Homescan data were used to analyze cheese consumption by loca...
EIB-66, July 26, 2010
Most U.S. farms—98 percent in 2007—are family operations, and even the largest farms are predominantly family run. Large-scale family farms and nonfamily farms account for 12 percent of U.S farms but 84 percent of the value of production. In contrast, small family farms make up most of the U.S. farm...
EIB-67, July 26, 2010
American farms vary widely in size and other characteristics, but farming is still an industry of family businesses. Ninety-eight percent of farms are family farms, and they account for 82 percent of farm production. Small family farms make up most of the U.S. farm count and hold the majority of far...
GFA-21, July 08, 2010
Food security in 70 developing countries is estimated to have improved between 2009 and 2010, in part due to economic recovery in many of these countries. The number of food-insecure people in the developing countries analyzed by ERS researchers is estimated to decrease about 7.5 percent from 2009 t...
ERR-100, July 02, 2010
The link between high U.S. obesity rates and the overconsumption of added sugars, largely from sodas and fruit drinks, has prompted public calls for a tax on caloric sweetened beverages. Faced with such a tax, consumers may reduce consumption of these sweetened beverages and substitute nontaxed beve...
ERR-99, June 21, 2010
A series of coordinated case studies compares the structure, size, and performance of local food supply chains with those of mainstream supply chains. Interviews and site visits with farms and businesses, supplemented with secondary data, describe how food moves from farms to consumers in 15 food su...
ERR-98, June 11, 2010
The 2002 and 2008 Farm Acts increased funding for conservation programs that provide financial assistance to farmers to implement conservation practices on working farmland. Along with seeking cost-effective environmental benefits, these programs have a goal of spreading conservation funding equitab...
ERR-96, June 03, 2010
The U.S. Department of Agriculture administers food and nutrition assistance programs that promote fruit and vegetable consumption. But consumption remains relatively low among program recipients as well as among the general U.S. population. The perceived high cost of produce is often cited as a det...
ERR-97, May 17, 2010
This comprehensive overview of local food systems explores alternative definitions of local food, estimates market size and reach, describes the characteristics of local consumers and producers, and examines early indications of the economic and health impacts of local food systems. There is no cons...
WRS-10-01, May 17, 2010
This report evaluates the impact of Indonesia’s transition from a food-first focus to an export-oriented development strategy on its agricultural production, productivity growth, consumer food demand, and lifestyle. Shifting production and consumption patterns have led to improving agricultural trad...
BIO-01-01, May 14, 2010
This report assesses the short-term outlook for production of next-generation biofuels and the near-term challenges facing the sector. Next-generation U.S. biofuel capacity should reach about 88 million gallons in 2010, thanks in large measure to one plant becoming commercially operational in 2010, ...
AP-048, May 07, 2010
The Economic Research Service (ERS) of USDA is accepting proposals for fiscal year 2010 for economic research in three broad areas related to U.S. agricultural participation in proposed greenhouse gas markets. The research should focus on the economics of agricultural activities and practices, inclu...
ERR-95, May 07, 2010
Evaluation of publicly funded research can help provide accountability and prioritize programs. In addition, Federal intramural research planning generally involves an institutional assessment of the appropriate Federal role, if any, and whether the research should be left to others, such as univers...
WHS-10d01, May 03, 2010
This report analyzes the role imports have played in stabilizing Afghan wheat prices by mitigating the effects of shortfalls in domestic production and assesses whether Afghanistan’s internal wheat markets are sufficiently connected with international markets to cope with volatility in domestic outp...
EIB-65, April 30, 2010
This report uses analysis of the geographic distribution of Federal funding to discuss potential tradeoffs for distressed rural areas when shifting from one form of rural development assistance to another, particularly when shifting to greater use of Government-guaranteed loans. The study also uses...
SSSM-260-01, April 22, 2010
This report describes and analyses the current situation and outlook for supply, demand, and trade of sugar by India, the world’s second largest sugar producer. A decline in sugar production has shifted India from net exporter to net importer during 2009/10, contributing to a runup in global sugar p...
TB-1926, April 22, 2010
The Quarterly Food-at-Home Price Database (QFAHPD) was developed to provide market-level food prices that can be used to study how prices affect food choices, intake, and health outcomes. This report presents a detailed description of the methodology used to construct the QFAHPD. The database, const...
FTS-341-01, April 21, 2010
This report reviews Japanese government programs to support domestic fruit production and how these policies affect fruit consumption in one of the largest markets for U.S. fruits. Production targets and subsidies aim to bolster the supply of domestic fruit, while phytosanitary measures and tariffs ...
AP-047, April 05, 2010
The Eating & Health (EH) Module of the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) collects additional data to analyze relationships among time use patterns and eating patterns, nutrition, and obesity; food and nutrition assistance programs; and grocery shopping and meal preparation. This User’s Guide provides ...
EIB-6-7, March 19, 2010
This report examines trends in USDA’s food and nutrition assistance programs through fiscal 2009. It also discusses a recent ERS report that examines the prevalence, severity, and characteristics of food insecurity in households with children.
TB-1925, March 19, 2010
This report presents a simple methodology for calculating cross-price elasticities across countries, using the Frisch own-price elasticity. Cross-price elasticities are calculated for 9 major consumption categories from the 1996 International Comparison Program data across 114 countries. The consump...
AP-045, March 12, 2010
The Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Program (FANRP) of USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) and the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) announce the availability of funds and a request for applications for planning grants to promote new research in methods to improve children’s eating h...
AP-046, March 12, 2010
The Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Program (FANRP) of USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS), in collaboration with the USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), invites proposals for a competitive grant to establish and fund a center for behavioral economics and child nutrition research. The c...
ERR-94, March 10, 2010
Energy is an important input in growing, processing, packaging, distributing, storing, preparing, serving, and disposing of food. Analysis using the two most recent U.S. benchmark input-output accounts and a national energy data system shows that in the United States, use of energy along the food ch...
ERR-92, February 19, 2010
In 1996, the safety net for poor households with children fundamentally changed when Federal legislation replaced Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). This study investigates participation in, and benefits received from, AFDC/TANF and fo...
EIB-63, February 18, 2010
Ninety-one percent of U.S. farms are classified as small—gross cash farm income (GCFI) of less than $250,000. About 60 percent of these small farms are very small, generating GCFI of less than $10,000. These very small noncommercial farms, in some respects, exist independently of the farm economy be...
ERR-93, February 18, 2010
WIC provides participating infants with free infant formula. This study estimated that between 57 and 68 percent of all infant formula sold in the United States was purchased through WIC, based on 2004-06 data, and that formula costs to the WIC program have increased. Typically, WIC State agencies r...
ERR-90, February 16, 2010
Food away from home (FAFH) has been associated with poor diet quality in many studies. It is difficult, however, to measure the effect of FAFH on diet quality since many unobserved factors, such as food preferences and time constraints, influence not just our choice of where to eat but also the nutr...
AP-044, February 12, 2010
he Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Program (FANRP) of the USDA Economic Research Service (ERS) announces the availability of funds and a request for applications to conduct research that focuses on USDA’s domestic food assistance and nutrition programs. The three priority research areas are (...
ERR-91, February 12, 2010
Household economic well-being can be gauged by the financial resources (income/wealth) available to the household or by the standard of living enjoyed by household members (consumption). Based on responses to USDA's annual Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS), a joint effort by the Economi...
OCE-2010-1, February 11, 2010
This report provides longrun (10-year) projections for the agricultural sector through 2019. Projections cover agricultural commodities, agricultural trade, and aggregate indicators of the sector, such as farm income and food prices.
SSSM-258, February 10, 2010
In the February 2010 World Agriculture Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE), projected fiscal year (FY) 2010 production for Mexico is reduced 200,000 metric tons, raw value (MTRV) from last month based on weather-reduced sugar yields to date. Exports are reduced by the same amount. Projected FY 2010 ...
OCS-10a-01, February 01, 2010
The 2009 foodborne illness outbreak linked to Salmonella in peanut products resulted in one of the largest food safety recalls ever in the United States. The source of the outbreak handled a small share of the U.S. peanut supply, but the scope of the recalls was magnified because the peanut products...
ERR-84, December 29, 2009
Authorized by the 2008 Farm Act, the Average Crop Revenue Election (ACRE) program is the first revenue-based, income-support program that calculates payments using recent market prices and a producer’s actual plantings. The payments are triggered when a farm’s revenue and State revenue (price multip...
AIS-88, December 22, 2009
All three measures of U.S. farm income are projected to decline in 2009—net farm income is projected to decline by 34.5 percent, net cash income by 28.4 percent, and net value added by 20 percent. Considerable uncertainty surrounds the forecasts of farm assets, debt, and equity in 2009, given the vo...
AP-043, December 18, 2009
The Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Program (FANRP) of the USDA Economic Research Service (ERS) announces the availability of funds and a request for applications to conduct research on operational issues of USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly called the Food Stam...
ERR-89, December 17, 2009
Agriculture is the largest source of employment in India, and food accounts for about half of consumer expenditures. Moving agricultural products from the farm to consumers more efficiently could result in large gains to producers, consumers, and India’s overall economy. This analysis uses a computa...
FDS-09k-01, December 14, 2009
China’s corn imports are minimal, even though it is using a growing proportion of its corn to produce starch, ethanol, and other industrial products. The corn-processing industry’s growth was encouraged by Chinese government policy, but the industry now has excess capacity. Many of the corn-based in...
AP-041, December 09, 2009
Changes in the American public’s food consumption and purchases in recent decades, together with advances in medical knowledge of dietary effects on health, have heightened awareness of the importance of understanding what people eat and where and why they eat it. Most U.S. consumers have diets that...
AP-042, December 07, 2009
This report summarizes ERS's Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Program (FANRP) activities and accomplishments in fiscal 2009, including newly awarded projects and recent publications. FANRP supports intramural and extramural research on a wide range of policy-relevant food assistance and nutrit...
EIB-62, December 07, 2009
Beginning, limited-resource, and socially disadvantaged farmers make up as much as 40 percent of all U.S. farms. Some Federal conservation programs contain provisions that encourage participation by such “targeted” farmers and the 2008 Farm Act furthered these efforts. This report compares the natur...
ERR-87, December 02, 2009
Concerns about child obesity have raised questions about the quality of meals served in the National School Lunch Program. Local, State, and Federal policymakers responded to these concerns beginning in the mid-1990s by instituting a range of policies and standards to improve the quality of U.S. Dep...
ERR-86, November 18, 2009
The Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007 established specific targets for the production of biofuel in the United States. Until advanced technologies become commercially viable, meeting these targets will increase demand for traditional agricultural commodities used to produce ethanol...
ERR-88, November 17, 2009
The livestock industry uses information on meat prices at different stages in the marketing system to make production decisions. When grocery stores began using electronic scanners to capture prices paid for meat, it was assumed that the livestock industry could capitalize on having these point-of-s...
AIS-87, November 16, 2009
Income and wealth for farm businesses have changed noticeably this decade. Debt levels have been rising, asset levels have outpaced debt despite a recent fall in land prices, and equity has more than doubled for farm businesses. However, recent declines in farm income and falling land prices have ra...
EIB-60, November 16, 2009
Marketing quota and price support programs for peanuts and tobacco were a longstanding feature of U.S. farm policy, from the 1930s until the Government enacted quota buyouts, in 2002 for peanuts and 2004 for tobacco. Quota owners were compensated with temporary payments, but elimination of the quota...
ERR-83, November 16, 2009
Eighty-five percent of American households were food secure throughout the entire year in 2008, meaning that they had access at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members. The remaining households (14.6 percent) were food insecure at least some time during the yea...
ERR-82, November 02, 2009
Organic milk production has been one of the fastest growing segments of organic agriculture in the United States in recent years. Despite the growing number of organic dairy operations, the characteristics of organic dairy operations and the relative costs of organic and conventional milk production...
ERR-85, October 29, 2009
Self-selection by more food-needy households into the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly called the Food Stamp Program) makes it difficult to observe positive effects of the program in survey data. This study investigates self-selection and ameliorative program effects by exam...
EIB-61, October 23, 2009
From 2000 to 2007, median spending on food by U.S. households declined by 12 percent relative to the (rising) cost of USDA’s Thrifty Food Plan, and by 6 percent relative to the (rising) Consumer Price Index (CPI) for Food and Beverages. Over the same period, the national prevalence of very low food ...
SSS-256, October 05, 2009
The Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938, as amended by the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008, requires that sugar marketing allotments be in effect in fiscal year (FY) 2010. The act requires that the Overall Allotment Quantity (OAQ) be set at no less
than 85 percent of the estimated quanti...
AP-040, September 30, 2009
This report summarizes research findings from the Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Innovation and Development Grants in Economics Program (RIDGE), formerly known as the Small Grants Program. The Economic Research Service created the program in 1998 to stimulate new and innovative research on f...
EIB-58, September 30, 2009
Organic foods now occupy prominent shelf space in the produce and dairy aisles of most mainstream U.S. food retailers. The marketing boom has pushed retail sales of organic foods up to $21.1 billion in 2008 from $3.6 billion in 1997. U.S. organic-industry growth is evident in an expanding number of ...
EB-14, September 23, 2009
Agricultural Land Tenure and Carbon Offsets examines the potential role that land ownership might play in determining the agricultural sector’s involvement in carbon sequestration programs. By estimating the carbon sequestration potential of agricultural producers who own most of the land they opera...
EIB-56, September 21, 2009
Eighty-four percent of U.S. households with children were food secure throughout 2007, meaning that they had consistent access to adequate food for active, healthy lives for all household members. Nearly 16 percent of households with children were food insecure sometime during the year, including 8....
ERR-81, September 16, 2009
The United States bans imports of certain agricultural and wildlife goods that can carry pathogens or diseases or whose harvest can threaten wildlife stocks or endanger species. Despite these bans, contraband is regularly uncovered in inspections of cargo containers and in domestic markets. This stu...
ERR-80, September 09, 2009
This report analyzes recent structural changes in the world cotton industry and develops a statistical model that reflects current drivers of U.S. cotton prices. Legislative changes in 2008 authorized USDA to resume publishing cotton price forecasts for the first time in nearly 80 years. Systematic ...
EIB-59, September 04, 2009
Update of an annual series, the 2009 edition of Rural America At A Glance deals with effects of the major recession on rural America. Initially, effects of the recession were mitigated in nonmetro areas by high commodity prices throughout much of 2008, but as the recession deepened, prices fell. Bot...
WRS-09-05, August 20, 2009
The global economic crisis that started in late 2008 has led to a sharp curtailment of international trade, including a short-term decline in the value of global agricultural trade of around 20 percent. After slowing, global agricultural trade will continue to grow in the future. The crisis is leadi...
VGS-333-01, August 19, 2009
Growth over time in the demand for fresh vegetables for at-home consumption may slow because of differences in the behavior of younger and older birth cohorts. A birth cohort includes people born in the same year and is similar in concept to a generation. People born around the same point in history...
EIB-57, August 17, 2009
Rural residents have higher rates of age-adjusted mortality, disability, and chronic disease than their urban counterparts, though mortality and disability rates vary more by region than by metro status. Contributing negatively to the health status of rural residents are their lower socioeconomic st...
ERR-78, August 17, 2009
As broadband—or high-speed—Internet use has spread, Internet applications requiring high transmission speeds have become an integral part of the “Information Economy,” raising concerns about those who lack broadband access. This report analyzes (1) rural broadband use by consumers, the community-at-...
ERR-79, August 10, 2009
Members of the baby boom cohort, now 45-63 years old, are approaching a period in their lives when moves to rural and small-town destinations increase. An analysis of age-specific, net migration during the 1990s reveals extensive shifts in migration patterns as Americans move through different life-...
FAU-125, August 06, 2009
Using import data from the U.S. Census Bureau, this study examines patterns of U.S. food imports for fiscal years 1998-2007. Results indicate faster import growth trends for consumer-ready foods, such as fruit, vegetables, meats, seafood, and processed food products. Although the United States impor...
FDS-09G-01, August 05, 2009
The past 5 years have seen large increases in trading of corn, soybean, and wheat futures contracts by nontraditional traders, a trend that coincided with historic price increases for these commodities. These events have raised questions about whether changes in the composition of traders participat...
ERR-77, July 30, 2009
Developing countries, particularly those that depend heavily on a small number of agricultural exports, are vulnerable to domestic and international shocks. These countries often have difficulty achieving sustained economic growth. This analysis uses Malawi, a country that earns most of its foreign ...
ERR-76, July 15, 2009
Movements in countries’ exchange rates can substantially change the prices of goods faced by producers and consumers and thereby affect incentives to produce, consume, and trade goods. Exchange rate changes, however, might not be completely transmitted (passed through) to domestic prices. Empirical ...
ERR-75, July 10, 2009
This report examines the impact of process regulations mandated under the Pathogen Reduction/Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (PR/HACCP) rule by the Food Safety and Inspection Service of USDA on food safety process control. The current level of food safety found in U.S. meat and poultry fo...
AP-038, July 09, 2009
The Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Program (FANRP) announces the recompetition of the grants that fund partner institutions in the Research Innovation and Development Grants in Economics (RIDGE) Program. ERS invites applications from university-based institutions for competitive grant awards...
EIB-52, July 07, 2009
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) increased attention to food imports from China is an indicator of safety concerns as imported food becomes more common in the United States. U.S. food imports from China more than tripled in value between 2001 and 2008. Addressing safety risks associated...
GFA-20, June 30, 2009
Food security in 70 developing countries is projected to deteriorate over the next decade, according to USDA’s Economic Research Service. After rising nearly 11 percent from 2007 to 2008, the number of food-insecure people in the developing countries analyzed by ERS researchers is estimated to rise ...
AP-036, June 25, 2009
This report fills a request for a study of food deserts—areas with limited access to affordable and nutritious food—from the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008. The report summarizes findings of a national-level assessment of the extent and characteristics of food deserts, analysis of the co...
AP-037, June 25, 2009
The Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 directed the U.S. Department of Agriculture to evaluate the role of animal manure as a source of fertilizer, and its other uses. About 5 percent of all U.S. cropland is currently fertilized with livestock manure, and corn accounts for over half of the a...
CWS-09D01, June 25, 2009
Price volatility in 2008 generated interest in underlying cotton cash and futures markets and highlighted the importance of market participants’ expectations about basis changes over time in production, marketing, and hedging decisions. This analysis examines trends in average U.S. cotton basis and ...
EIB-55, June 03, 2009
Consumer demand for organic products has widened over the last decade. While new producers have emerged to help meet demand, market participants report that a supply squeeze is constraining growth for both individual firms and the organic sector overall. Partly in response to shortages in organic su...
FTS-337-01, June 03, 2009
Specialized fruit and tree nut farms represent a substantial segment of the U.S. fruit and tree nut industry. By nature of the commodities produced and the markets targeted, these specialized farms require substantial investments in production inputs. Using data from USDA’s Agricultural Resource and...
EIB-53, May 15, 2009
USDA defines beginning farmers and ranchers as those who have operated a farm or ranch for 10 years or less either as a sole operator or with others who have operated a farm or ranch for 10 years or less. Beginning farmers tend to be younger than established farmers and to operate smaller farms or r...
EIB-54, May 15, 2009
Significant changes in Federal individual income and estate tax policies have occurred over the last 10 years. Analysis suggests that changes in Federal tax provisions affecting both individual and business income taxes have reduced average tax rates for all farm households, resulting in the lowest ...
WRS-0904, May 15, 2009
During the 2000s, Russian agricultural imports have grown considerably, from $7 billion in 2000 to $33 billion in 2008. This import growth has made Russia the second largest agricultural importer among emerging markets, after China. The main reasons for the import rise are macroeconomic—high growth ...
RCS-09D-01, May 07, 2009
Global rice prices rose to record highs in the spring of 2008, with trading prices tripling from November 2007 to late April 2008. The price increase was not due to crop failure or a particularly tight global rice supply situation. Instead, trade restrictions by major suppliers, panic buying by seve...
ERR-73, April 16, 2009
The mission of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) is to safeguard the health of low-income women, infants, and children through age 4 who are at nutritional risk. WIC provides nutritious foods to supplement diets, nutrition education, and referrals to h...
EIB-51, April 07, 2009
Thirty years ago China began implementing a series of reforms to improve efficiency in agricultural production. Since then reforms have reshaped China’s agriculture and elevated its position in the world economy. This report provides an overview of current issues in China’s agricultural development,...
ERR-72, April 07, 2009
Interest in revenue-based commodity support is evident in the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008 (the 2008 Farm Bill), which gives eligible producers the option of participating in the Average Crop Revenue Election (ACRE) program in return for reductions and eliminations of payments under mor...
EB-13, April 01, 2009
One of the most worrisome aspects of the growing tide of obesity in the United States is the high rate of overweight among children. Over one in five young children, ages 2 to 5, are at risk of being overweight. The number of children at risk of being overweight has grown in the past two decades, as...
EIB-48, April 01, 2009
This book contains a sampling of recent ERS research illustrating the breadth of the Agency's research on current policy issues: from biofuels to food consumption to land conservation to patterns of trade for agricultural products.
EIB-6-6, April 01, 2009
Federal expenditures for USDA’s food assistance programs totaled $60.7 billion in fiscal 2008, 11 percent more than in the previous fiscal year—the largest percentage increase in 16 years. Fiscal 2008 marked the eighth consecutive year in which food assistance expenditures exceeded the previous hist...
FDS-09D-01, April 01, 2009
The byproducts of making ethanol, sweeteners, syrups, and oils used to be considered less valuable than the primary products. But the increased livestock-feed market for such byproducts in the past few years has switched that perception to one of the ethanol industry making grain-based “co-products”...
EIB-45, March 31, 2009
Over the years, proposals have recommended shifting the focus of public agricultural research from applied to basic research, and giving higher priority to peer-reviewed, competitively funded grants. The public agricultural research system in the United States is a Federal-State partnership, with mo...
EIB-50, March 31, 2009
In recent years, structural changes in the hog sector, including increased farm size and regional shifts in production, have altered manure management practices. Also, changes to the Clean Water Act, State regulations, and increasing local conflicts over air quality issues, including odor, have infl...
WRS-09-03, March 31, 2009
Implementation of the agricultural provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has drawn to a close. In 2008, the last of NAFTA’s transitional restrictions governing U.S.-Mexico and Canada-Mexico agricultural trade were removed, concluding a 14-year project in which the member coun...
WRS--09-02, March 30, 2009
The world economic crisis that began in 2008 has major consequences for U.S. agriculture. The weakening of global demand because of emerging recessions and declining economic growth result in reduced export demand and lower agricultural commodity prices, compared with those in 2008. These, in turn, ...
EIB-46, March 24, 2009
The Food Stamp Program reduces benefits to households as their earnings rise. This reduction is affected by household participation in other Government assistance programs (cross-program effects) and by the wide variation in State-specific reduction rates for earnings in Temporary Assistance for Nee...
WHS-09C01, March 24, 2009
The recent historic rise in farm input costs and wheat prices has had economic effects on the U.S. wheat sector. A cumulative distribution of forecasted production costs for wheat farms shows that current high (but falling) wheat prices will allow a greater share of producers to cover their producti...
EIB-44, March 20, 2009
This study analyzed updated food loss estimates for fresh fruit, vegetables, meat, poultry, and seafood obtained through a competitive grant with the Perishables Group, Inc. The new estimates were obtained for use in the ERS Loss-Adjusted Food Availability data. They had little impact on per capita ...
EIB-49, March 20, 2009
Meeting agricultural policy and statistical goals requires a definition of U.S. agriculture’s basic unit, the farm. However, these goals can be at odds with one another. USDA defines “farm” very broadly to comprehensively measure agricultural activity. Consequently, most establishments classified as...
CWS-08i-01, March 03, 2009
New information about the role of recycling in the textile industry and updated estimates of efficiency in spinning lower estimates of the volume of cotton fiber exported by China in the form of textiles from those of an earlier study. China’s textile industry not only meets domestic demand of the w...
EB-12, March 01, 2009
In fiscal 2008, the $4.6 billion of food purchased with vouchers from the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) generated $1.3 billion in farm revenue. Because WIC participants would have purchased some of these foods with their own money in the absence of the...
EIB-47, February 27, 2009
Three-quarters of U.S. residents used the Internet to access information, education, and services in 2007. Broadband Internet access is becoming essential for both businesses and households; many compare its evolution to other technologies now considered common necessities—such as cars, electricity,...
AP-034, February 26, 2009
Under the Program of Research on the Economics of Invasive Species Management (PREISM), ERS conducts intramural research and funds extramural research to support the economic basis of decisionmaking concerning invasive species issues, policies, and programs. The report, Program of Research on the Ec...
AR-33, February 13, 2009
U.S. prices of fertilizer nutrients began to rise steadily in 2002 and increased sharply to historic highs in 2008 due to the combined effects of a number of domestic and global long- and shortrun supply and demand factors. From 2007 to 2008, spring nitrogen prices increased by a third, phosphate pr...
OCE-2009-1, February 12, 2009
This report provides longrun (10-year) projections for the agricultural sector through 2018. Projections cover agricultural commodities, agricultural trade, and aggregate indicators of the sector, such as farm income and food prices.
TB-1924, February 12, 2009
The Economic Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) develops and publishes estimates and forecasts of three primary measures of income and returns for the U.S. farm economy: (1) net value added, or total value of the farm sector’s production of goods and services less purchase...
AP-033, February 11, 2009
The Eating & Health (EH) Module of the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) collects data to analyze relationships among time use patterns and eating patterns, nutrition, and obesity; food and nutrition assistance programs; and grocery shopping and meal preparation. This User’s Guide provides detailed gu...
LDPM-175-01, February 10, 2009
U.S. imports and exports of red meats—beef, pork, lamb, and mutton—have expanded rapidly over the last several decades, linking livestock sectors of the United States to those of several major trading partners. Factors driving this trade growth include not only rising incomes, but also the preferenc...
ERR-71, February 05, 2009
Japan is a leading market for U.S. oranges. Since 1995, orange consumption in Japan has declined. This report summarizes an analysis of household survey data to assess various factors that may be related to the decline. Consumption of oranges in Japan differs markedly across generations, with younge...
EIB-43, January 23, 2009
U.S. livestock production has shifted to much larger and more specialized farms, and the various stages of input provision, farm production, and processing are now much more tightly coordinated through formal contracts and shared ownership of assets. Important financial advantages have driven these ...
ERR-70, January 09, 2009
Americans' diets, particularly those of low-income households, fall short of Government recommendations in the quantity of fruits and vegetables consumed. Some proposals suggest that a price subsidy for those products would encourage low-income Americans to consume more of them. This study estimated...
AP-031, January 02, 2009
Among the many responsibilities of USDA are implementing the Food Stamp Program and other food and nutrition assistance programs; managing Federal forest land; implementing standards of humane care and treatment of animals; providing incentives for adopting wildlife habitat enhancements and other co...
WRS-0901, January 01, 2009
Colombia's sugarcane-based ethanol industry, after operating for only 3 years, is the second most developed in the Western Hemisphere. Most Colombian ethanol plants are energy self-sufficient and even generate surplus power that is sold to the national electric grid. Colombia's sugarcane-based ethan...
EIB-42, December 30, 2008
Million-dollar farms—those with annual sales of at least $1 million—accounted for about half of U.S. farm sales in 2002, up from a fourth in 1982 (with sales measured in constant 2002 dollars). By 2006, million-dollar farms, accounting for 2 percent of all U.S. farms, dominated U.S. production of hi...
ERR-69, December 30, 2008
Researchers use Nielsen Homescan data, which provide detailed food-purchase information from a panel of U.S. households, to address a variety of important research topics. However, some question the credibility of the data since the data are self-recorded and the recording process is time-consuming....
ERR-67, December 29, 2008
Food security—consistent access to enough food for an active, healthy life—is essential for health and good nutrition. The extent to which a nation’s population achieves food security is an indication of its material and social well-being. Differences in the prevalence of household-level food insecu...
EIB-41, December 18, 2008
The Food Stamp Program is designed to provide low-income families with increased food purchasing power to obtain a nutritionally adequate diet. As in most other Federal Government assistance programs, benefits are adjusted in response to rising prices—in this case, rising food prices. The current me...
ERR -68, December 15, 2008
Changing small factors that influence consumer choice may lead to healthier eating within controlled settings, such as school cafeterias. This report describes a behavioral experiment in a college cafeteria to assess the effects of various payment options and menu selection methods on food choices. ...
AP-030, December 03, 2008
This report summarizes ERS's Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Program (FANRP) activities and accomplishments in fiscal 2008, including newly awarded projects and recent publications. FANRP supports intramural and extramural research on a wide range of policy-relevant food assistance and nutrit...
EIB-40, October 31, 2008
Rural America At A Glance, 2008 Edition highlights the most recent indicators of social and economic conditions in rural areas for use in developing policies and programs to assist rural areas. The 2008 edition focuses on employment, poverty, population change, and demographic characteristics of non...
VGS-329-01, October 27, 2008
Rapid growth in the organic foods market has placed great pressure on farmers and handlers in the U.S. organic sector. Handlers are firms that produce, process, and distribute organic food. As the middlemen in the supply chain, organic handlers have been unable at times to provide as much of their f...
EB-11, September 19, 2008
Programs and policies to minimize the threat of, or mitigate the damages from, invasive species work best if designed in concert with each other. Whether program emphasis should be on prevention or control depends on the biological characteristics and size of the invasive species population, ecologi...
TB-1922, September 19, 2008
This report describes data and methodologies that the Economic Research Service has used to apply monetary values to changes in soil erosion. Values and methodology are clearly described so that analysts can apply the data to specific soil conservation projects. ERS has used the values to estimate s...
AP-032, September 12, 2008
In response to Senate Report 110-134, accompanying S. 1859, the 2008 the Agriculture Appropriations Bill, ERS researchers published a report about consumer perceptions and consumption of canned fruits and vegetables using USDA’s food consumption survey data, Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Expe...
EIB-39, September 09, 2008
This report examines U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) data on refusals of food offered for importation into the United States from 1998 to 2004. Although the data do not necessarily reflect the distribution of risk in foods, the study found that import refusals highlight food safety problems ...
VGS-328-01, September 09, 2008
Vegetable and melon production requires a substantial investment in production inputs. Using data from USDA’s Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS), this article presents and explores the major expense components of specialized U.S. and regional vegetable and melon farms during 1998-2006. T...
LDPM-170-01, September 04, 2008
Animal and poultry disease outbreaks often lead to new or amended policies and regulations. The economic effects induced by these policies can be much greater and much longer lasting than the immediate effect of the disease outbreak alone. Using Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) as an example, ...
ERR-64, September 02, 2008
U.S. farmers and ranchers produce a wide variety of commodities for food, fuel, and fiber in response to market signals. Farms also contain significant amounts of natural resources that can provide a host of environmental services, including cleaner air and water, flood control, and improved wildlif...
ERR-65, August 29, 2008
To better understand how information about potential health hazards influences food demand, this case study examines consumers’ responses to newspaper articles on avian influenza, informally referred to as bird flu. The focus here is on the response to bird flu information in Italy as news about hig...
ERR-62, August 11, 2008
Poor diets and rising obesity rates among Americans persist despite increased public awareness of the benefits of a healthy lifestyle. This report presents a consumer demand model to illustrate how both long-term health objectives and immediate visceral influences—long intervals between meals and ea...
ERR-63, August 11, 2008
This report examines changes in consumers' use of nutrition labels on food packages between 1995-96 and 2005-06. The analysis finds that, although a majority of consumers report using nutrition labels when buying food, use has declined for most label components, including the Nutrition Facts panel a...
AP-029, July 31, 2008
This report summarizes research findings from the Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Innovation and Development Grants in Economics Program (RIDGE), formerly known as the Small Grants Program. The Economic Research Service created the program in 1998 to stimulate new and innovative research on f...
WRS-0801, July 23, 2008
World market prices for major food commodities such as grains and vegetable oils have risen sharply to historic highs of more than 60 percent above levels just 2 years ago. Many factors have contributed to the runup in food commodity prices. Some factors reflect trends of slower growth in production...
ERR-61, July 18, 2008
The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is the Nation’s second largest food and nutrition assistance program. In 2006, it operated in over 101,000 public and nonprofit private schools and provided over 28 million low-cost or free lunches to children on a typical school day at a Federal cost of $8 b...
ERR-59, July 16, 2008
The European Union’s sugar policy, in place since 1968, underwent its first major reform in 2005 in response to mounting and unsustainable imbalances in supply and demand. The reform, however, targeted only a few policy instruments (intervention price cut, voluntary production quota buyout, and rest...
ERR-60, July 11, 2008
Hired farmworkers make up a third of the total agricultural labor force and are critical to U.S. agricultural production, particularly in labor-intensive sectors such as fruits and vegetables. The hired farmworker labor market is unique because it includes a large population of relatively disadvanta...
EIB-37, July 09, 2008
Despite strong overall economic growth and strengthening food demand, investment in Indian agriculture and agribusiness has remained sluggish, and growth in farm output has slowed, since the early 1990s. An array of policies and regulations affecting agricultural production, marketing, and food proc...
GFA-19, July 03, 2008
The number of food insecure people in the 70 lower income countries covered in this report rose between 2006 and 2007, from 849 million to 982 million. Food insecure people are those consuming less than the nutritional target of 2,100 calories per day. The food security situation of these countries ...
EIB-38, June 30, 2008
Broiler production in the United States is coordinated almost entirely through systems of production contracts, in which a grower’s compensation is based, in part, on how the grower’s performance compares with that of other growers. The industry is undergoing a gradual structural change as productio...
EIB-6-5, May 30, 2008
Federal expenditures for USDA’s food assistance programs totaled almost $54.3 billion in fiscal 2007, over 2 percent more than in the previous fiscal year. This rise marked the seventh consecutive year in which food assistance expenditures increased and the fifth consecutive year in which they excee...
ERR-58, May 30, 2008
The 2002 Farm Act required USDA to implement marketing loans for the 2002-07 crops of dry peas, lentils, and small chickpeas. This provision led to expanded acreage for dry peas and lentils, crops analyzed in this study. The analysis found that marketing loans played a role in expansion for dry peas...
ERR-57, May 28, 2008
As more is learned about the impacts of foreign animal-disease outbreaks, questions arise regarding the efficacy of existing animal disease-impact models for capturing the array of effects across many economic sectors and time. Previous models lacked adequate treatment of either the economic compone...
SSSM -252, May 27, 2008
At the end of March 2008, the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) projected
sugar beet acreage intentions for the 2008 crop year at 1.132 million acres, about 10.9
percent lower than 2007 crop year area planted. Assuming normal sucrose levels and
continued improvement in productivity,...
AP-028, May 21, 2008
The Eating & Health (EH) Module of the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) collects data to analyze relationships among time use patterns and eating patterns, nutrition, and obesity; food and nutrition assistance programs; and grocery shopping and meal preparation. This User’s Guide provides detailed gu...
EIB-36, May 06, 2008
The organic sector has expanded rapidly over the last decade, as retail sales of organic food increased to $15.7 billion in 2006. As sales have grown, so have the number and types of outlets selling organic products. USDA’s Economic Research Service surveyed certified organic intermediaries in the U...
FAU-124, April 18, 2008
U.S. agricultural trade generates employment, income, and purchasing power in both the farm and nonfarm sectors. Each farm export dollar earned stimulated another $1.65 in business activity in calendar year 2006. The $71.0 billion of agricultural exports in 2006 produced an additional $117.2 billion...
EIB-35, April 01, 2008
More than half of all transactions for U.S. agricultural products are still conducted through spot market exchanges, in which commodities are bought and sold in open market transactions for immediate delivery. But a growing share of U.S. farm production is produced and sold under agricultural contra...
EIB-33, March 28, 2008
This report examines major trends in the amount of food available for consumption in the United States between 1970 and 2005 using data from the ERS Food Availability (Per Capita) Data System. The report also estimates whether Americans are meeting Federal dietary recommendations for each of the maj...
EIB-34, March 21, 2008
Results from reviewed studies indicate that for most participants in the Food Stamp Program—children, nonelderly men, and the elderly—use of food stamp benefits does not result in an increase in either Body Mass Index (BMI) or the likelihood of being overweight or obese. However, for nonelderly wome...
AP-027, March 17, 2008
ERS's Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Program is now accepting proposals for grants and cooperative agreements for fiscal 2008. The three priority research areas are (1) Food Choices: Economic Determinants and Consequences, (2) Economic Incentives in Food Assistance Programs, and (3) Food Ass...
ERR-56, March 17, 2008
Using food expenditures and food sales data over 1990-2004, this report examines whether food consumption and delivery trends are converging across 47 high- and middle-income countries. Middle-income countries, such as China and Mexico, appear to be following trends in high-income countries, measure...
ERR-55, March 12, 2008
An increase in the price of fruits and vegetables relative to less healthy foods could reduce consumers' incentives to purchase fruits and vegetables and result in less healthy diets. Whether such a change in relative prices and incentives has occurred in the United States is difficult to prove beca...
FTS-330-01, March 12, 2008
Japan is a large market for U.S. orange exports, and most of Japan’s orange consumption is supplied by U.S. exports. Orange consumption and imports grew until 1994, but have declined since. Demographic shifts are linked to changing orange consumption: older birth cohorts eat more oranges, and younge...
AP-026, March 10, 2008
Under the Program of Research on the Economics of Invasive Species Management (PREISM), ERS supports and conducts research to improve the economic basis of decisionmaking concerning invasive issues, policies, and programs. Program themes have included international dimensions of invasive species pre...
AP-025, March 04, 2008
ERS's Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Program (FANRP) supports intramural and extramural research on a wide range of policy-relevant food assistance and nutrition topics. The three perennial program themes are (1) diet and nutritional outcomes, (2) food program targeting and delivery, and (3)...
OCE-2008-1, February 12, 2008
This report provides longrun (10-year) projections for the agricultural sector through 2017. Projections cover agricultural commodities, agricultural trade, and aggregate indicators of the sector, such as farm income and food prices.
TB-1918, February 11, 2008
The objective of this research is to extend and generalize the equilibrium displacement methodology by combining it with mathematical programming methods and existing knowledge of farm sector relationships to develop sectoral adjustment models that can operate in pure competition, monopoly/monopsony...
AP-024, February 01, 2008
ERS has a broad range of research on how agricultural markets and natural resources are and will be affected by the increased production of bioenergy. Planned ERS research on bioenergy encompasses all aspects of the ERS research mission, including economic and policy issues involving food, farming, ...
AP-024-2, February 01, 2008
ERS has a broad range of research on how agricultural markets and natural resources might be affected by the increased demand for bioenergy. ERS research on bioenergy encompasses all aspects of the ERS research mission, including economic and policy issues involving food, farming, natural resources,...
SSSM-251, January 29, 2008
The USDA requires accurate, unbiased sugar production forecasts for making the
Department’s monthly market forecast used to mange the domestic sugar program.
Sugar production forecasts from sugar beet and sugarcane processors are compiled
by the Farm Service Agency (FSA) for publication in the Wo...
AP-022, January 23, 2008
The Farm Security Act of 2002, which governs Federal farm programs for 2002-07, was signed into law on May 13, 2002. This publication presents an overview of the Act and a side-by-side comparison of 1996-2001 farm legislation and the 2002 Act. For selected programs, information is provided to additi...
AP-023, January 23, 2008
The Economic Research Service has a broad range of research on how agricultural markets and natural resources might be affected by the increased demand for bioenergy. ERS research on bioenergy encompasses all aspects of the ERS research mission, including economic and policy issues involving food, f...
ERR-54, January 07, 2008
Households have a number of needs and wants that all compete for scarce resources. Given this situation, are low-income households, in particular, generally willing and able to budget for healthful foods like fruits and vegetables, or are other goods and services, including other foods, more of a pr...
SB-974, January 07, 2008
These reports examine how production costs vary among producers of different commodities. These reports include details on production practices and input use levels (i.e., the 'technology set'), as well as farm operator and structural characteristics that underlie the cost and return estimates. The ...
ERR-53, December 31, 2007
Farm-based recreation provides an important niche market for farmers, but limited empirical information is available on the topic. Access to two USDA databases, the 2004 Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS) and the 2000 National Survey on Recreation and the Environment, provided researcher...
EIB-32, December 27, 2007
Hog production in 2004 was characterized by wide variation in the types, sizes, and economic performance of operations. Operations specializing in a single production phase generated more than three times the product value, on average, of those using the traditional farrow-to-finish approach. Low-co...
ERR-52, December 27, 2007
The increasing size and specialization of hog operations reflect structural change in U.S. swine production during the past 15 years. The number of farms with hogs has declined by over 70 percent, as hog enterprises have grown larger. Large operations that specialize in a single phase of production ...
MP-1598, December 06, 2007
Since 1998, Congress has provided funds to ERS to study and evaluate the Nation’s domestic food and nutrition assistance programs. ERS has become the premier source of food and nutrition assistance research in the United States, sponsoring over 600 publications on a wide range of topics related to f...
FTS-330, November 28, 2007
The index of prices received by fruit and nut growers dropped below last year’s indices in June and has remained lower each month through October. Fresh orange, grapefruit, and apple grower prices were lower for September and October 2007 compared with the same time last year, but fresh lemon prices...
ERR-51, November 27, 2007
In the last 25 years, U.S. crop farms have steadily declined in number and grown in average size, as production has shifted to larger operations. Larger farms tend to receive more commodity program payments because most payments are tied to a farm’s current or historical production, but whether paym...
ERR-50, November 26, 2007
The U.S. Government is promoting whole-grain foods, responding to mounting evidence of their association with maintaining a healthy weight and reducing the risk of heart problems and other diseases, This study compared Americans’ consumption of grains with the recommendations in the Government’s 200...
ERR-66, November 17, 2007
Eighty-nine percent of American households were food secure throughout the entire year in 2007, meaning that they had access at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members. The remaining households (11.1 percent) were food insecure at least some time during the yea...
ERR-49, November 14, 2007
Eighty-nine percent of American households were food secure throughout the entire year in 2006, meaning that they had access at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members. The remaining households (10.9 percent) were food insecure at least some time during the yea...
CWS-07I-01, November 06, 2007
USDA has developed a new approach for estimating cotton consumption in China based on textile import and export data, supplementing the traditional methodology that uses yarn production data from China’s National Bureau of Statistics. This analysis suggests USDA’s historical estimates of China’s cot...
ERR-44, October 30, 2007
Can a single program support farm income and encourage producers to adopt environmentally sound farming practices? While simple in concept, attempting to roll the farm income support features of existing commodity programs and conservation payments into a single program raises questions. Exactly how...
LDPM-15902, October 05, 2007
In 2003, outbreaks of the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 virus had a major negative impact on the global poultry industry. Initially, import demand for both uncooked and cooked poultry declined substantially, due to consumers’ fear of contracting avian influenza by eating poultry meat...
EIB-31, October 01, 2007
Rural America At A Glance, 2007 highlights the most recent indicators of social and economic conditions in rural areas for use in developing policies and programs to assist rural areas. The brochure provides information on key rural conditions and trends for use by public and private decisionmakers ...
EIB-29, September 27, 2007
Food stamp recipients, like other Americans, struggle with nutrition problems associated with choice of foods, as well as amounts. This series of Economic Information Bulletins compiles evidence to help answer the question of whether the Food Stamp Program can do more to improve the food choices of ...
EIB-29-1, September 27, 2007
The increased food purchasing power offered by the Food Stamp Program can promote food security and improve the overall economic well-being of low-income households. Now, as Americans struggle with obesity and other diet-related health problems, there is interest in whether the program can be more e...
EIB-29-2, September 27, 2007
Significant regional differences in food prices affect how far food stamp benefits can go toward enhancing the diet of low-income consumers in a given region. In regions where average food prices exceed the national average, food stamp benefits may not provide the same level of coverage as the same ...
EIB-29-3, September 27, 2007
The cost of “enough food,” estimated from the amount that low- and medium-income households in a geographic area report needing to spend to just meet their food needs, differs substantially across States and among metropolitan areas. In areas with high food costs, many food-stamp recipients are like...
EIB-29-4, September 27, 2007
The Food Stamp Program provides benefits that low-income households can use to purchase food in grocery stores. The rise in obesity has raised the question of whether food stamp participants would purchase more healthy foods, such as fruits and vegetables, if food stamp benefits were higher. This re...
EIB-29-5, September 27, 2007
This brief examines how consumers respond to food prices and how consumers’ response to price influences their purchases of particular foods, using examples drawn from previous ERS research. Implications of the findings for the use of price interventions to improve food choices are considered.
EIB-29-6, September 27, 2007
The Food Stamp Nutrition Education (FSNE) component of the Food Stamp Program is intended to improve the food choices, diet quality, and health of program participants. This brief discusses the FSNE program, how it operates, and how it has grown over time. The brief also considers the challenges of ...
EIB-29-7, September 27, 2007
With obesity the most prevalent nutrition problem facing Americans at all economic levels, promoting diets that provide adequate nutrition without too many calories has become an important objective for the Food Stamp Program. Findings from behavioral economics suggest innovative, low-cost ways to i...
EIB-29-8, September 27, 2007
Currently, the effects of the Food Stamp Program on the food choices and diet quality of participants are the subject of much debate. Improved evaluation of the nutrition and health effects of the program would be of use to program and policy officials, but most of the existing research is limited b...
LDPM-15901, September 24, 2007
Argentina and Uruguay (A/U) are significant beef exporters and among the world’s greatest consumers of beef on a per capita basis. Between 13 and 20 percent of U.S. beef imports, on a tonnage basis, come from these two countries annually, and it is mostly grass-fed beef. Currently, only 10-20 percen...
ERR-48, September 21, 2007
Economic Research Reports present original economic analysis, findings and implications primarily for public and private decisionmakers’ staff and researchers. This Economic Research Report analyzes multiple years of cross-sectional data to understand trends in the relationship between food assistan...
EIB-28, September 13, 2007
Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) O157 is a significant cause of foodborne illness in the United States. ERS estimated the economic cost of illness due to this pathogen—$405.2 million (in 2003 dollars)—using the most recent estimate (1997) of the annual number of STEC O157 cases by the Centers fo...
FTS-32801, September 10, 2007
U.S. imports of fresh fruit and vegetables have increased substantially, particularly since the 1990s. Dominant suppliers are the North American Free Trade Agreement region for fresh vegetables, the Southern Hemisphere countries for off-season fresh fruit, and equatorial countries for bananas. The s...
EB-10, September 04, 2007
Over the last several decades, the U.S. agricultural sector has sustained impressive productivity growth. The Nation's agricultural research system, including Federal-State public research as well as private-sector research, has been a key driver of this growth. Economic analysis finds strong and co...
EB-9, September 04, 2007
Innovation and changes in technology have been a driving force for gains in productivity growth in U.S. agriculture. USDA's Economic Research Service has developed annual indexes of agricultural inputs, outputs, and total factor productivity (TFP) for 1948 through 2004. American agriculture relies a...
EIB-27, September 04, 2007
The current $2.5-million income cap on eligibility for farm program payments affects only a small number of farm program payment recipients each year. A reduction in the cap to $200,000 would affect a larger number of farm households but still only a small share of recipients. Based on IRS tax data ...
ERR-46, September 04, 2007
After a decade of uneven export growth and rapidly growing imports, U.S. agriculture has begun to reassert its position in global trade markets. Rising exports and signs of moderating import demand are in marked contrast to previous trends. This report places recent changes in perspective by highlig...
ERR-47, September 04, 2007
U.S. dairy production is consolidating into fewer but larger farms. This report uses data from several USDA surveys to detail that consolidation and to analyze the financial drivers of consolidation. Specifically, larger farms realize lower production costs. Although small dairy farms realize higher...
WRS-0703, August 22, 2007
U.S. exports of soybeans and cotton to China have boomed in recent years, but the undervalued exchange rate for the Chinese yuan keeps prices of most other U.S. food and agricultural products more expensive than Chinese products. On average, Chinese retail food prices are about a fourth of U.S. pric...
WRS-0702, August 06, 2007
The volatile and upward trend in U.S. natural gas prices from 2000-06 has led to a 17-percent decline in the Nation’s annual aggregate supply of ammonia. During the period, U.S. ammonia production declined 44 percent, while U.S. ammonia imports increased 115 percent. Also, the share of U.S.-produced...
AP-023-2, August 01, 2007
ERS has a broad range of research on how agricultural markets and natural resources might be affected by the increased demand for bioenergy. ERS research on bioenergy encompasses all aspects of the ERS research mission, including economic and policy issues involving food, farming, natural resources,...
SSS-249-01, July 17, 2007
This report on the U.S. sugar sector places into context the challenges facing sugar producers, users, and policymakers in the United States, including description and analysis of farm-level production of U.S. sugar crops, cane and beet sugar processing and refining industries, imports and exports o...
AP-021, July 16, 2007
Under the Program of Research on the Economics of Invasive Species Management (PREISM), ERS supports and conducts research to improve the economic basis of decisionmaking concerning invasive issues, policies, and programs. Program themes have included international dimensions of invasive species pre...
FAU-123, June 29, 2007
U.S. agricultural exports reached a record in fiscal 2006 at $68.7 billion, some $6.2 billion higher than the record set in fiscal 2005. California, Iowa, Texas, and Illinois continued their reign as top exporting States, while Minnesota dropped to seventh position behind Nebraska and Kansas. North ...
GFA-18, June 28, 2007
The number of hungry people in the 70 lower income countries covered in this report rose between 2005 and 2006, from 804 million to 849 million. However, the food distribution gap—an indicator of food access—declined, which means that, although more people are vulnerable to food insecurity, the inte...
SSSM-249, June 04, 2007
Rising ethanol demand in global markets is driving the growth of Brazil’s
sugar/ethanol complex with new investments in infrastructure and technology. The
recent rise in crude oil prices, paired with a global effort for renewable energy
development and a growing domestic demand for ethanol have b...
EIB-24, June 01, 2007
U.S. farms are diverse, ranging from small retirement and residential farms to enterprises with annual sales in the millions. Nevertheless, most U.S. farms—98 percent in 2004—are family farms. Even the largest farms tend to be family farms. Large-scale family farms and nonfamily farms account for 10...
EIB-26, June 01, 2007
American farms encompass a wide range of sizes, ownership structures, and business types, but most farms are still family farms. Family farms account for 98 percent of farms and 85 percent of production. Although most farms are small and own most of the farmland, production has shifted to very large...
ERR-43, June 01, 2007
As obesity has come to the forefront of public health concerns, there is growing interest in finding ways to guide consumers’ food choices to be more beneficial for their long-term health. About one in five Americans participates in at least one nutrition assistance program sponsored by the U.S. Dep...
EIB-25, May 31, 2007
This Economic Information Bulletin describes characteristics of low-income households that had very low food security in 2005. The U.S. Department of Agriculture monitors the food security of low-income households to assess how effectively the Government’s domestic nutrition assistance programs meet...
ERR-42, May 31, 2007
Major recent developments in the U.S. food system include the increasing presence of nontraditional grocery retailers, such as supercenters and drugstores, and competitive responses by traditional grocers, such as supermarket chains. These developments have contributed to sharp increases in concentr...
LDPM-155-01, May 22, 2007
Consumer interest in organic milk has burgeoned, resulting in rapid growth in retail sales of organic milk. New analysis of scanner data from 2004 finds that most purchasers of organic milk are White, high income, and well educated. The data indicate that organic milk purchased carries the USDA orga...
FDS-07D01, May 18, 2007
A large expansion in ethanol production is underway in the United States. Cellulosic sources of feedstocks for ethanol production hold some promise for the future, but the primary feedstock in the United States currently is corn. Market adjustments to this increased demand extend well beyond the cor...
TBS-262-01, May 11, 2007
U.S. tobacco product manufacturers use foreign-produced leaf in items such as cigarettes, cigars, chewing tobacco, and pipe tobacco. Imports peaked in the mid-1990s but remain at historically high levels. The popularity of generic cigarettes, which use cheaper imported leaf, along with increases in ...
ERR-40, May 04, 2007
Households participating in the Food Stamp Program are increasingly headed by a single parent or two working parents. As this trend continues, more low-income households may find it difficult to allocate the time needed to prepare meals that fit within a limited budget and meet dietary requirements....
ERR-41, May 03, 2007
During 1998-2002, India experienced record public surpluses of wheat and rice, sharply higher Government subsidy outlays, and declining per capita consumption. By 2006, despite continued high subsidies and sluggish domestic consumption, India developed a large wheat deficit. The pronounced market cy...
AP-024-1, May 01, 2007
The tremendous expansion of bioenergy production raises several key questions: Where will ethanol producers get the corn needed to increase their output? How will increased demand for biodiesel affect soybean markets? What will be the impact on livestock production of increased use of crops for ener...
CWS-07B01, March 30, 2007
U.S. cotton growers, like producers of other agricultural commodities in recent years, have confronted pressures from market forces and the impacts of policy developments, both domestic and international. Most notably, the ending of the Multifiber Arrangement (MFA) sent a ripple effect throughout th...
FDS-07C01, March 30, 2007
The U.S. feed grain sector, largest of the major U.S. field crops, faces unprecedented demand conditions. The size and speed of the expanding use of corn by the ethanol industry is raising widespread issues throughout U.S. agriculture. Debate is ongoing over the use of grain for fuel instead of for ...
TB-1916, March 30, 2007
The Regional Environment and Agriculture Programming Model (REAP), facilitates scenario—or "what if"—analyses by showing how changes in technology, commodity supply or demand, or farm, resource, environmental, or trade policy could affect a host of performance indicators important to decisionmakers ...
WRS-0701, March 29, 2007
Implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is drawing to a close. In 2008, the last of NAFTA’s transitional restrictions governing U.S.-Mexico and Canada-Mexico agricultural trade will be removed, concluding a 14-year project in which the member countries systematically disman...
AP-020, March 16, 2007
ERS's Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Program is now accepting proposals for grants and cooperative agreements for Fiscal 2007. The three priority research areas are (1) Food Choices: Economic Determinants and Consequences, (2) Economic Incentives in Food Assistance Programs, and (3) Food Ass...
EIB-23, March 13, 2007
Average yearly expenditures on food in U.S. urban households increased between 2003 and 2004. Over the period, annual per capita spending on food rose from $2,035 to $2,207. The 2004 average comprises $1,347 spent on food consumed at home and $860 spent on food consumed away from home. These amounts...
ERR-38, March 13, 2007
A rich data set of coffee prices and costs was used to determine to what extent changes in commodity costs affect manufacturer and retail prices. On average, a 10-cent increase in the cost of a pound of green coffee beans in a given quarter results in a 2-cent increase in manufacturer and retail pri...
VGS-31901, March 06, 2007
Carrots are one of the most popular vegetables in the United States and fresh-market carrot consumption has been increasing over the past few decades. Using a combination of ACNielsen Homescan panel data and USDA’s Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals, this article examines where and how...
AP-023-1, March 01, 2007
The tremendous expansion of bioenergy production raises several key questions: Where will ethanol producers get the corn needed to increase their output? How will increased demand for biodiesel affect soybean markets? What will be the impact on livestock production of increased use of crops for ener...
ERR-35, February 28, 2007
U.S. grains were once exclusively handled by commodity markets characterized by standard grades (for example, number 2 yellow corn), a large number of buyers and sellers, and prices that were transparent on commodity exchanges. Increasingly, though, specialty grains (for example, fiber-enriched whea...
ERR-39, February 22, 2007
A model developed for this analysis improved on the USDA method of estimating counter-cyclical payment rates by accounting for the variability in market price forecast errors. This enhanced method produced unbiased estimates. Forecasters and producers can use the model to calculate the probabilities...
OCE-2007-1, February 14, 2007
This report provides longrun (10-year) projections for the agricultural sector through 2016. Projections cover agricultural commodities, agricultural trade, and aggregate indicators of the sector, such as farm income and food prices.
EIB-6-4, February 13, 2007
Federal expenditures for USDA’s food assistance programs totaled almost $53 billion in fiscal 2006, a 4-percent increase over the previous fiscal year. This was the sixth consecutive year in which food assistance expenditures increased and the fourth consecutive year in which they exceeded the previ...
ERR-37, February 07, 2007
In fall 2005, Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma devastated areas along much of the Gulf Coast resulting in large increases in food stamp caseloads and benefits issued. In November 2005, the number of people receiving food stamps reached a record 29.7 million, or about 4 million more participants t...
ERR-36, February 01, 2007
The economic well-being of most U.S. farm households depends on income from both onfarm and off-farm activities. Consequently, for many farm households, economic decisions (including technology adoption and other production decisions) are likely to be shaped by the allocation of managerial time amon...
AP-019, January 30, 2007
ERS's Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Program (FANRP) supports intramural and extramural research on a wide range of policy-relevant food assistance and nutrition topics. The three perennial program themes are (1) diet and nutritional outcomes, (2) food program targeting and delivery, and (3)...
ERR-32, January 04, 2007
As their incomes rise, Chinese consumers are changing their diets and demanding greater quality, convenience, and safety in food. Food expenditures grow faster than quantities purchased as income rises, suggesting that consumers with higher incomes purchase more expensive foods. The top-earning Chin...
EIB-21, December 29, 2006
Rural Employment At A Glance is a six-page brochure that highlights the most recent indicators of employment and unemployment in rural areas. It documents changes and differences in metro and nonmetro employment growth, unemployment, earnings per job, and occupational mix, as well as differences acr...
ERR-34, December 29, 2006
This study examines consumers' retail purchases of beef and beef products for evidence of a response to the 2003 U.S. government announcements of finding cows infected with Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE). We constructed weekly estimates of quantities of beef products consumers purchased from...
ERR-31, November 20, 2006
To help Americans meet nutritional requirements while staying within caloric recommendations, the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans encourage consumption of fruits, vegetables, whole-grain products, and fat-free or low-fat milk or milk products. This report provides one view of the potential imp...
EIB-20, November 15, 2006
States differ in the extent to which their residents are food secure—meaning that they have consistent access to enough food for active, healthy living. The prevalence of food security in a State depends not only on the characteristics of households in the State, such as their income, employment, an...
EIB-19, October 17, 2006
Whether eating out or buying carry-out, Americans are consuming more and more of their calories from full-service and fast-food restaurant fare. The share of daily caloric intake from food purchased and/or eaten away from home increased from 18 percent to 32 percent between the late 1970s and the mi...
EIB-6-3, September 15, 2006
USDA expenditures for its 15 food assistance programs totaled $27.7 billion during the first half of fiscal 2006 (October 2005-March 2006), a 7-percent increase over the first half of fiscal 2005. Five programs—the Food Stamp Program; the National School Lunch Program; the Special Supplemental Nutri...
ERR-25, August 31, 2006
This report examines evidence on the relationship between agricultural land-use changes, soil productivity, and indicators of environmental sensitivity. If cropland that shifts in and out of production is less productive and more environmentally sensitive than other cropland, policy-induced changes ...
EIB-18, August 29, 2006
Rural America At A Glance, 2006 Edition highlights the most recent indicators of social and economic conditions in rural areas for use in developing policies and programs to assist rural areas. The brochure provides information on key rural conditions and trends for use by public and private decisio...
ERR-24, August 15, 2006
For the commodities they sell, farmers have been receiving a decreasing share of what consumers pay for food at retail stores for some time,but the extent of this decrease has been overstated for at least a few commodity groups. Current estimates of farm share are based on baskets of foods represent...
EIB-16, July 21, 2006
This report describes patterns
and trends in land, water, biological resources, management skills and
commercial input use; reports on the condition of natural and other resources
used in the agricultural sector; and describes public policies and programs as
well as economic factors that affect reso...
ERR-21, June 30, 2006
The rate at which U.S. farms go out of business, or exit farming, is about 9 or 10 percent per year, comparable to exit rates for nonfarm small businesses in the United States. U.S. farms have not disappeared because the rate of entry into farming is nearly as high as the exit rate. The relatively s...
FAU-11401, June 30, 2006
U.S. agricultural exports reached a new record in fiscal 2005 at $62.4 billion, but only $1 million higher than the record set in fiscal 2004. While California and Iowa continued their reign as top exporting states, Texas regained its third place position ahead of Illinois; Indiana moved back into t...
EIB-15, June 28, 2006
In recent U.S. farm policy debates, several “whole-farm revenue” programs have been proposed as a new form of safety net that would be available to all U.S. farms. A whole-farm program is based on revenues from all farming activities added together and is not linked to the production of particular c...
LDPM-14301, June 09, 2006
The first confirmed cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in Canada and the United States had significant effects on trade and prices of U.S. cattle and beef. However, these incidents occurred during a period of low U.S. beef supplies, near-record beef prices, and strong domestic demand fo...
EIB-14, May 31, 2006
This publication presents the results of the latest (2002) inventory of U.S. major land uses, drawing on data from the Census, public land management and conservation agencies, and other sources. The data are synthesized by State to calculate the use of several broad classes and subclasses of agricu...
SSSM-246, May 30, 2006
Mexico has been a significant producer, consumer, and exporter of sugar. Figure
M1 shows trends and relationships between these variables since 1960. Sugar
production has been steadily growing since 1960. Yearly production growth
averaged 66,000 metric tons (mt) from 1960-74, and it averaged 81,0...
EIB-12, May 15, 2006
Most farms in the United States—98 percent in 2003—are family farms. They are organized as proprietorships, partnerships, or family corporations. Even the largest farms tend to be family farms. Very large family farms account for a small share of farms but a large—and growing—share of farm sales. Sm...
EIB-13, May 15, 2006
American farms vary widely in size and other characteristics, but farming is still an industry of family businesses. Ninety-eight percent of farms are family farms, and they account for 86 percent of farm production. Very small farms are growing in number, and small family farms continue to own most...
VGS-314, April 20, 2006
In 2005, per capita use (also known as disappearance or consumption) of all vegetables and melons declined 1 percent to 444 pounds. Disappearance of all vegetables and melons
totaled 131 billion pounds in 2005, compared with 120 billion pounds a decade earlier. Per capita use of fresh market vegeta...
EIB-11, April 19, 2006
Ten years after the first generation of genetically engineered (GE) varieties became commercially available, adoption of these varieties by U.S. farmers is widespread for major crops. Driven by farmers' expectations of higher yields, savings in management time, and lower pesticide costs, the adoptio...
VGS-31301, April 17, 2006
This report describes the economic characteristics of the U.S. fruit and vegetable industry, providing supply, demand, and policy background for an industry that accounts for nearly a third of U.S. crop cash receipts and a fifth of U.S. agricultural exports.
ERR-18, April 03, 2006
Early-warning systems for plant diseases are valuable when the systems provide timely forecasts that farmers can use to inform their pest management decisions. To evaluate the value of the systems, this study examines, as a case study, USDA's coordinated framework for soybean rust surveillance, repo...
AP-018, March 17, 2006
ERS's Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Program accepted proposals for grants and cooperative agreements for fiscal 2006. The three priority research areas were (1) Economic Incentives in Food Assistance Programs, (2) Food Assistance as a Safety Net, and (3) Food Choices, Obesity, and Human Cap...
EB-2, March 14, 2006
A multitude of design decisions influence the performance of voluntary conservation programs. This Economic Brief is one of a set of five exploring the implications of decisions policymakers and program managers must make about who is eligible to receive payments, how much can be received, for what ...
EB-7, March 14, 2006
Farm subsidy programs were introduced in the 1930s largely due to concern for chronically low, and highly variable, incomes of US farm households. Today commodity-based support programs are still prominent, though income and wealth of the average farm household now exceed that of the average nonfarm...
ERR-15, March 02, 2006
This report examines the use of intellectual property rights in Federal technology transfer, focusing primarily on the Agricultural Research Service (ARS). ARS uses patenting and licensing when a technology requires additional development by a private sector partner to yield a marketable product. Li...
EIB-6-2, February 15, 2006
One in five Americans participates in at least one of USDA's food and nutrition assistance programs during the year. In fiscal 2005, an estimated 55 percent of USDA's budget supported the programs that provide children and low-income people with access to food, a healthful diet, and nutrition educat...
EIB-7, February 06, 2006
Corn production costs per bushel vary considerably among U.S. producers, depending on yields, farm location, tillage practices, irrigation, previous field usage, enterprise size, and weather. In 2001, the operating and ownership costs per bushel for corn ranged from an average of $1.08 for the 25 pe...
ERR-14, February 01, 2006
This report examines the business, operator, and household characteristics of farms that have adopted certain conservation-compatible practices, with and without financial assistance from government conservation programs. The analysis finds that attributes of the farm operator and household and char...
SSSM-245, January 31, 2006
The European Union’s (EU-25) sugar program has been scheduled for reform every
five years for the last 40 years. However, its success in making sugar one of the
most profitable crops in many EU countries has succeeded in delaying reform
proposals until recently.
AP-017, January 11, 2006
ERS's Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Program (FANRP) supports intramural and extramural research on a wide range of policy-relevant food assistance and nutrition topics. The three perennial program themes are (1) diet and nutritional outcomes, (2) food program targeting and delivery, and (3)...
EIB-9, January 04, 2006
Marketing and production contracts covered 39 percent of the value of U.S. agricultural production in 2003, up from 36 percent in 2001 and a substantial increase over estimated values of 28 percent for 1991 and 11 percent in 1969. Large farms are far more likely to contract than small farms; in fact...
EIB-8, December 28, 2005
Rural Hispanics at a Glance provides the latest information from the 2000 Census and other Federal data sources about Hispanics living in nonmetro counties. This six-page brochure highlights growth and geographic dispersion, demographic characteristics, and the most recent indicators of social and e...
VGS-312, December 16, 2005
With total 2005 potato production down 7.5 percent, the January-October price received by growers/shippers/packers for fresh-market potatoes averaged $9.27 per cwt, 25 percent above the average received during the first 10 months of 2004. By contrast, prices for
processing potatoes (which largely m...
ERR-10, October 31, 2005
This study reports trends in rural low-skill employment in the 1990s and their impact on the rural workforce. The share of rural jobs classified as low-skill fell by 2.2 percentage points between 1990 and 2000, twice the decline of the urban low-skill employment share, but much less than the decline...
LDPM-13502, October 07, 2005
Beef is a highly consumed meat in the United States, averaging 67 pounds per person per year. Findings based on the 1994-96 and 1998 Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals (CSFII) indicate that most beef was eaten at home. Annual beef consumption per person was highest in the Midwest (73 p...
EIB-6-1, October 04, 2005
USDA expenditures for its 15 food assistance programs totaled $25.9 billion during the first half of fiscal 2005 (October 2004-March 2005), an 11-percent increase over the first half of fiscal 2004. Five programs—the Food Stamp Program, the National School Lunch Program, the Special Supplemental Nut...
EIB-5, September 29, 2005
Food Dynamics provides the most up-to-date information on consumer behavior and retail food market conditions.
EIB-4, September 22, 2005
Rural America At A Glance, 2005 is a six-page brochure that highlights the most recent indicators of social and economic conditions in rural areas for use in developing policies and programs to assist rural areas. The brochure is the fourth in a series of reports that uses current social and economi...
LDPM-13501, September 16, 2005
This study focuses on fed cattle markets to compare the mandatory price reporting system developed by USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service in 2001 with the previous voluntary reporting system. The study also evaluates whether the mandatory system has improved the amount and quality of information a...
ERR-9, September 01, 2005
Animal waste from confined animal feeding operations is a potential source of air and water quality degradation. Pollution from animal waste poses challenges to farmers and to resource managers because it can affect multiple resources while environmental laws typically focus only on a single resourc...
LDPM-13401, August 24, 2005
This report provides a detailed description and analysis of Japan’s policies that support its milk producers and regulate dairy markets. Domestic supply controls boost the milk price, and government subsidies for producing manufacturing milk, for environmental improvements, and for hazard insurance ...
SSSM-243-01, August 19, 2005
U.S. consumption of sugars added to food items increased by 23 percent between 1985 and 1999. Although USDA data have documented the overall growth trend, not much has been inferred from USDA survey data. This article helps fill a gap by reporting findings for sweetener consumption by income and dem...
ERR-7, August 09, 2005
The promotion of recreation and tourism has been both praised and criticized as a rural development strategy. This study uses regression analysis to assess the effect of recreation and tourism development on socioeconomic conditions in rural recreation counties. The findings imply that recreation an...
FAU-10201, July 08, 2005
U.S. agricultural exports reached a record $62.2 billion in fiscal 2004, boosted in part by a declining U.S. dollar. Illinois moved ahead of Texas to rank third among U.S. agricultural exporting States after California and Iowa, as fiscal 2004 U.S. agricultural exports continued to expand. Arkansas ...
ERR-5, June 03, 2005
The 2002 Farm Bill sharply increased conservation funding and earmarked most of the increase for working-land payment programs (WLPPs). The design and implementation of WLPPs will largely determine the extent to which environmental goals are achieved and whether they are achieved cost effectively. T...
EIB-3, June 01, 2005
The structure of farms, farm households, and the rural communities in which they exist has evolved markedly over the last century. Historical data on a range of farm structure variables—including the value of agricultural production, commodity specialization, farming-dependent counties, and off-farm...
EIB-2, May 24, 2005
Crop genetic resources are the basis of agricultural production. However, crop genetic resources are largely public goods, so private incentives for genetic resource conservation may fall short of achieving public objectives. Within the U.S. germplasm system, certain crop collections lack sufficient...
LDPM-13001, May 12, 2005
Pork ranks third in annual U.S. meat consumption, behind beef and chicken, averaging 51 pounds per person. The Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals (CSFII) indicates that most pork is consumed at home. Pork consumption is highest in the Midwest, followed by the South, the Northeast, and ...
AER-815, April 28, 2005
Investigates the relative importance of preserving different amenities conserved by farmland protection programs. Examines farmland protection program enabling legislation in the 48 contiguous States, and implementation of these programs in five Northeastern States.
EIB-1, April 06, 2005
This report provides the latest information on the demographic, social, and economic characteristics of rural children in families. Child poverty in 21st century America is higher (18 percent in 2003) than the rate for the general population (12.5 percent), as well as above the rates in most other i...
ERR-2, April 01, 2005
The North American greenhouse tomato industry has grown rapidly since the early 1990s and now plays a major role in the fresh tomato industry. However, relatively little is known about this new industry, in part because of the lack of reliable production, trade, and price data. Both analysts and ind...
ERR-3, April 01, 2005
Consolidation and structural changes in the food industry have had profound impacts on firms, employees, and communities in many parts of the United States. Over 1972-92, eight important food industries underwent a structural transformation in which the number of plants declined by about one-third a...
AP-016, March 18, 2005
ERS's Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Program accepted proposals for grants and cooperative agreements for fiscal 2005. The three priority research areas were (1) Strengthening Economic Incentives in Food Assistance Programs, (2) Food Assistance as a Safety Net, and (3) Food Choices, Diet Qua...
AIB-797, March 09, 2005
This report presents comprehensive information on family and nonfamily farms and important trends in farming, operator household income, farm performance, and contracting. Most farms are family farms. Even the largest farms tend to be family farms. Small family farms account for most of the farms in...
AIB-796-5, February 14, 2005
The Nutrition and Health Characteristics of Low-Income Populations study examined several eating behaviors for children and adults using 1988-94 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES-III) data. This summary focuses on the nutritional biochemistry blood tests and bone density measu...
AIB-796-4, February 14, 2005
The Nutrition and Health Characteristics of Low-Income Populations study examined several eating behaviors for children and adults using 1988-94 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES-III) data. The measures provide a baseline to monitor eating behaviors of Americans, focusing on t...
AIB-796-3, February 14, 2005
The Nutrition and Health Characteristics of Low-Income Populations study examined several measures of body weight status for children and adults using 1988-94 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data. The measures provide a baseline to monitor the weight status of Americans, fo...
AIB-796-2, February 14, 2005
The Nutrition and Health Characteristics of Low-Income Populations study examined longrun average, or "usual" intakes of 10 key nutrients and dietary components: energy intake, vitamin C, iron, zinc, calcium, total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, and fiber. Results were estimated for partic...
AIB-796-1, February 14, 2005
The Healthy Eating Index measures how well American diets conform to recommended healthy eating patterns, looking at 10 dietary components. The Nutrition and Health Characteristics of Low-Income Populations study examined the Healthy Eating Index using 1988-94 National Health and Nutrition Examinati...
AIB-796, February 14, 2005
The five summaries in the Nutrition and Health Characteristics of Low-Income Populations series highlight key findings of the multi-volume Nutrition and Health Outcomes Study. The summaries examine the nutritional and health status of: Food Stamp Program (FSP) participants; Special Supplemental Nutr...
AER-840, February 01, 2005
This report examines global food trade patterns and the role of WTO market access rules in shaping the composition of global food trade.
AIB-794, February 01, 2005
This report describes how consumer preferences are driving changes in global food supply chains, including growth in private label sales and expansion of multinational retailers and manufacturers in developing countries.
AP-015, January 28, 2005
ERS's Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Program (FANRP) supports intramural and extramural research on a wide range of policy-relevant food assistance and nutrition topics. The three perennial program themes are (1) diet and nutritional outcomes, (2) food program targeting and delivery, and (3)...
AIB-795, January 12, 2005
This six-page brochure provides the latest information on transportation in rural America. The effects of deregulation, devolution of Federal transportation responsibilities to the States, increased Federal funding, and heightened security concerns are discussed in the context of each of the individ...
FANRR-41, January 11, 2005
Food prices within States affect average monthly costs of State food benefits packages provided by the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) more than variations in WIC caseload composition do. In addition, cost-containment practices by State WIC agencies prov...
FANRR--39-2, January 03, 2005
This report develops an economic model that provides the theoretical framework for the econometric analyses presented in the report’s companion volume, WIC and the Retail Price of Infant Formula (FANRR-39-1). The model examines supermarket retail prices for infant formula in a local market area, and...
EFAN-04014-1, December 01, 2004
Data from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES-III), conducted in 1988-94, were used to compare the nutrition and health characteristics of participants and nonparticipants in the Food Stamp Program (FSP). FSP participants were compared with two groups of nonparticipant...
AIB-792-7, November 12, 2004
Rising income, higher educational attainment, improved diet and health knowledge, more frequent eating out, and a growing population that will become older and more diverse in race and ethnicity are all shaping U.S. agricultural consumption. These effects are analyzed using data from the 1994-96 and...
AIB-792-6, November 12, 2004
National data on the diets of U.S. children and adolescents indicate they are consuming more fat and saturated fat than recommended while their intakes of fruits and vegetables fall well below recommended levels.
AIB-792-5, November 12, 2004
Both public and private organizations have noted that Americans generally eat less fruits and vegetables than is recommended in the Food Guide Pyramid. For example, the Produce for Better Health Foundation found that only 38 percent of Americans consume the recommended number of servings of vegetabl...
AIB-792-4, November 12, 2004
Many Americans do not consume the recommended amount of fruits and vegetables. Almost half of Americans think eating more fruits and vegetables would make their diets healthier, so why don't they? One argument is that fruits and vegetables are expensive, especially when purchased fresh. According to...
AIB-792-3, November 12, 2004
The USDA encourages people to eat a variety of fruits and vegetables through the Food Guide Pyramid and participation in the National 5-A-Day Partnership. A varied diet helps ensure a complete mix of nutrients, and a lack of variety in vegetable consumption has been further linked to the incidence o...
AIB-792-2, November 12, 2004
For good health, USDA urges American consumers to eat more fruits and vegetables-5 to 9 servings per day-and to choose a healthier, more varied mix of these foods. The variety of produce available to Americans has blossomed in recent years, but are consumers responding? The first step in determining...
AIB-792-1, November 12, 2004
Nutritionists recommend a variety of vegetables, including regular servings of deep-yellow and dark-green vegetables prepared with limited amounts of fats and sugars. In contrast, the most popular vegetable choice of most Americans is fried potatoes.
AER-835, November 08, 2004
This study addresses changes in the organization of the U.S. pork industry, most notably marketing contracts between packers and producers, by exploring their function in addressing pork quality concerns. A number of developments brought quality concerns to the forefront. These include health concer...
AIB-792, November 04, 2004
USDA's Food Guide Pyramid recommends 2-4 servings of fruit and 3-5 servings of vegetables daily. As a member of the 5-A-Day public-private partnership, USDA partners with other government agencies and private sector groups to promote the health benefits of fruits and vegetable. Yet consumption of th...
AER-836, November 01, 2004
Diverse needs and preferences across the United States provide justification for the devolution, or decentralization, of many Federal Government programs to the State or local level. The move toward devolution, however, has not been evidenced in U.S. agricultural policy, despite significant differen...
AER-837, November 01, 2004
Production and marketing contracts govern 36 percent of the value of U.S. agricultural production, up from 12 percent in 1969. Contracts are now the primary method of handling sales of many livestock commodities, including milk, hogs, and broilers, and of major crops such as sugar beets, fruit, and ...
AER-838, October 29, 2004
This report analyzes the U.S. experience with decoupled payments in the Production Flexibility Contracts program from 1996 to 2002. The studies in this report consider the effects of decoupled payments on recipient households, and assess land, labor, risk management, and capital market conditions th...
AIB-791, October 28, 2004
This report uses data from the USDA's 1994-96 Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals and the 1994-96 Diet and Health Knowledge Survey to ascertain whether economic factors help explain weight differences among adults. Weight differs among demographic subgroups, and differences in specific ...
AER-834, October 08, 2004
This report estimates the impact that high levels of enrollment in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) have had on economic trends in rural counties since the program’s inception in 1985 until today. The results of a growth model and quasi-experimental control group analysis indicate no discernib...
AIB-747, August 13, 2004
These reports synthesize economic analyses of the complex relationships in food markets of interest to officials responsible for public policy, decisionmakers in the industry, and researchers. Topics addressed so far include the economizing practices of low-income households in making food purchases...
AIB-790, July 20, 2004
This analysis uses ACNielsen Homescan data on 1999 household food purchases from all types of retail outlets to estimate an annual retail price per pound and per serving for 69 forms of fruits and 85 forms of vegetables. Among the forms we priced, more than half were estimated to cost 25 cents or le...
FANRR-39-1, June 01, 2004
Rebates from infant formula manufacturers to State agencies that administer the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) support over one-quarter of all WIC participants. However, concerns have been raised that WIC and its infant formula rebate program may signif...
SB-978, June 01, 2004
The U.S. dairy industry underwent dramatic restructuring during the last 50 or so years. Key structural features of the dairy industry are the quantity of milk produced and the location, number, size, and organization of dairy farms. The questions of where, how much, and by whom milk is produced are...
WRS-0406, June 01, 2004
International trade in fruits and vegetables has expanded at a higher rate than trade in other agricultural commodities, particularly since the 1980s. Not only has world trade in fruits and vegetables gained prominence, but the variety of commodities has expanded. Over the years, three regions—the E...
AER-832, May 28, 2004
Since 1985, U.S. agricultural producers have been required to practice soil conservation on highly erodible cropland and conserve wetlands as a condition of farm program eligibility. This report discusses the general characteristics of compliance incentives, evaluates their effectiveness in reducing...
RDRR-99, May 28, 2004
Since 1980, the nonmetro Hispanic population in the United States has doubled and is now the most rapidly growing demographic group in rural and small-town America. By 2000, half of all nonmetro Hispanics lived outside traditional settlement areas of the Southwest. Many Hispanics in counties that ha...
AER-833, May 24, 2004
This report analyzes fruit and vegetable expenditures by low-income households and higher income households, and compares the sensitivity of both groups' purchases to changes in income. On average, low-income households spent $3.59 per capita per week on fruits and vegetables in 2000 while higher in...
TB-1911, May 14, 2004
Results from the first national survey of the types and amounts of food safety investments made by meat and poultry slaughter and processing plants since the late 1990s provide evidence that market forces have worked in conjunction with regulation to promote the use of more sophisticated food safety...
EFAN-04004, May 13, 2004
Since the mid-1970s, the prevalence of obesity and overweight has increased dramatically in the United States. The prevalence of overweight has tripled among children and adolescents, and nearly two out of three adult Americans are either overweight or obese. Although high health, social, and econom...
AER-831, April 01, 2004
Recent industry innovations improving the safety of the Nation's meat supply range from new pathogen tests, high-tech equipment, and supply chain management systems, to new surveillance networks. Despite these and other improvements, the market incentives that motivate private firms to invest in inn...
VGS-301-01, April 01, 2004
The popularity of farmers' markets in the United States has grown concurrently with organic production and consumer interest in locally and organically produced foods. This research describes the significance of farmers' markets as market outlets for many organic farmers, and recent shifts in relati...
SB-974-7, March 31, 2004
The average cost of producing a hundred pounds (cwt) of rice was $6.00 for U.S. producers surveyed in 2000, ranging from about $2 per cwt to more than $10. Producers in the lowest quartile of production costs averaged $3.99 per cwt compared with $8.94 for producers in the highest quartile. Regional ...
TB-1909, March 31, 2004
Atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases can be reduced by withdrawing carbon from the atmosphere and sequestering it in soils and biomass. This report analyzes the performance of alternative incentive designs and payment levels if farmers were paid to adopt land uses and management practices ...
AIB-788, March 30, 2004
The report finds that bankruptcy has played only a small role in the overall decline in farm numbers over the last 70 years. Most of the decline in farm numbers occurred between the 1940s and 1970s, when bankruptcy filings were at relatively low levels. Farm numbers have even risen when bankruptcies...
AP-014, March 19, 2004
ERS's Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Program accepted proposals for grants and cooperative agreements for fiscal 2004. The three priority research areas were (1) Strengthening Economic Incentives in Food Assistance Programs, (2) Food Assistance as a Safety Net, and (3) Obesity, Diet Quality,...
AER-830, March 18, 2004
This investigation into the traceability baseline in the United States finds that private sector food firms have developed a substantial capacity to trace.
AIB-751-02, March 14, 2004
Concern among policymakers that the Federal estate tax might force the liquidation of some family farms has resulted in the enactment of a variety of special provisions over the years. Providing relief to farmers and other small business owners was the primary impetus for the 1997 changes to Federal...
AIB-789-7, February 28, 2004
This research summarizes three case studies of how trade in seafood products can be affected by food safety concerns.
AIB-789-6, February 28, 2004
This research brief discusses regulations intended to control mycotoxins in the food supply, and examines their implications for international trade.
AIB-789-5, February 28, 2004
This report examines how U.S. and other nations responded to foodborne illness outbreaks traced to internationally-traded food.
AIB-789-4, February 28, 2004
This research summarizes three case studies of how trade in meat and poultry products can be affected by food safety concerns.
AIB-789-3, February 28, 2004
This research brief examines the conceptual relationships between food safety and international trade, and discusses ways to resolve safety-related trade disputes.
AIB-789-2, February 28, 2004
This research brief examines the conceptual relationships between food safety and international trade.
AIB-789-1, February 28, 2004
This research brief presents some of the highlights of the ERS report, "International Trade and Food Safety: Economic Theory and Case Studies."
AIB-789, February 28, 2004
Expanding food trade has brought into sharper relief the divergence among countries' food safety regulations and standards. Differences in food safety regulations and standards can cause frictions and even disputes that interrupt international food trade. Countries are, however, tackling food safety...
AP-013, February 26, 2004
ERS's Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Program (FANRP) supports intramural and extramural research on a wide range of policy-relevant food assistance and nutrition topics. The three perennial program themes are (1) diet and nutritional outcomes, (2) food program targeting and delivery, and (3)...
SB-974-6, February 25, 2004
Total costs of producing milk in 2000 ranged from an average of $11.58 per hundredweight (cwt) of milk sold in the Fruitful Rim-West region to $18.23 per cwt in the Eastern Uplands. Milk producers in the West had a significant cost advantage over producers in other regions in 2000 because their oper...
WRS-04-03, February 02, 2004
Poultry meat is the fastest growing component of global meat demand, and India, the world's second largest developing country, is experiencing rapid growth in its poultry sector. In India, poultry sector growth is being driven by rising incomes and a rapidly expanding middle class, together with the...
AIB-786, February 01, 2004
Unprecedented growth in crop yields and agricultural total factor productivity over the past 70 years owes much to biological innovation embodied in seeds, beginning with the development of hybrid crops in the United States in the early part of the 20th century, continuing with the Green Revolution ...
AER-829, January 23, 2004
This publication examines how population trends and rising incomes will affect spending on food away from home, and estimates the expected growth rates in spending for food at full-service and fast food restaurants.
WRS-04-02, January 23, 2004
This report examines the economic rationale behind the various claims about the effects of mandatory country-of-origin labeling, thereby identifying the most likely outcomes. Profits motivate firms to innovate and introduce thousands of new food products each year to satisfy consumers' demand. Yet, ...
VGS-300, December 18, 2003
Total potato production for the 2003 crop year is forecast at 457 million cwt—down less than 1 percent from 2002. Despite the slight drop in production, however, U.S. grower prices for all potatoes have averaged 19 percent below a year ago and 14 percent below 2
years ago for the September - Novemb...
AER-828, November 07, 2003
This report examines the conceptual relationships between food safety and international trade and analyzes empirical examples from the meat and poultry, produce, food and animal feed crop, and seafood sectors.
TB-1906, November 03, 2003
This study estimates the size and distribution of benefits from adopting Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) cotton, herbicide-tolerant cotton, and herbicide-tolerant soybeans in 1997. The stakeholders considered are U.S. farmers, U.S. consumers, biotechnology developers, germplasm suppliers, and producers ...
EFAN-03009, October 07, 2003
About 61 percent of school districts used direct certification in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) in the 2001-02 school year, the same share as in 1996. Direct certification increased the number of children certified for free meals by about 400,000 and slightly increased overall NSLP partic...
TB-1904, October 06, 2003
This report analyzes expenditures on major consumption categories including food and different food subcategories across 114 countries. It also presents estimated expenditure responsiveness or elasticities with price and income changes for each of the major consumption categories and food subcategor...
AER-825, September 23, 2003
Retail consolidation, technological change in production and marketing, and growing consumer demand for produce have altered the traditional market relationships between producers, wholesalers, and retailers. Increasingly, produce suppliers are asked to provide additional marketing services and ince...
FANRR-36, September 02, 2003
This study examines dynamics in poverty and food insufficiency using newly available longitudinal data from the 1993 panel of the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) and the follow-on Survey of Program Dynamics (SPD). The study uses these data to characterize the incidence and dynamics...
AER-823, June 20, 2003
As rising populations and incomes increase pressure on land and other resources around the world, agricultural productivity plays an increasingly important role in improving food supplies and food security. This report explores the extent to which land quality and land degradation affect agricultura...
VGS-297, June 20, 2003
Per capita consumption of all vegetables and melons (on a fresh-equivalent basis) is expected to increase 1 percent to 445 pounds in 2003--up about 6 pounds from 2002. Gains are expected to be spread across fresh and processing items, led by potatoes,
tomatoes, and sweet corn. In 2002, per capita v...
AER-824, June 19, 2003
Nutrients from livestock and poultry manure are key sources of water pollution. Ever-growing numbers of animals per farm and per acre have increased the risk of water pollution. New Clean Water Act regulations compel the largest confined animal producers to meet nutrient application standards when a...
LDPM-10801, June 05, 2003
This article provides a current national picture of interstate movements of cattle, hogs, and sheep. A better understanding of livestock shipping patterns helps in characterizing the livestock sectors, estimating the economic effects of major disease outbreak, and assessing marketing issues.
AER-817, April 08, 2003
This study evaluates the costs of sanitation and process control in producing meat and poultry. The study shows that the costs of sanitation and process control as required by the Pathogen Reduction/Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (PR/HACCP) rule of 1996 raised wholesale meat and poultry ...
AIB-780, April 01, 2003
U.S. farmland managed under organic systems expanded rapidly throughout the 1990s, and that pace has continued as farmers strive to meet consumer demand in both local and national markets. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) implemented national organic standards on organic production and proc...
AP-012, March 13, 2003
ERS's Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Program accepted proposals for grants and cooperative agreements for fiscal 2003. The three priority research areas were (1) Program Design and Operations, (2) Food Assistance as a Safety Net, and (3) Obesity, Diet Quality, and Health Outcomes. This publi...
AH-722, February 28, 2003
This report identifies trends in land, water, and biological resources and commercial input use, reports on the condition of natural resources used in the agricultural sector, and describes and assesses public policies that affect conservation and environmental quality in agriculture. Combining data...
VGS-295, February 25, 2003
Planted area for spring-season onions is expected to decline 12 percent to 34,400 acres. Plantings are down in three of the four reporting States with Texas (down 23 percent) expecting the largest decline. Although area planted is forecast lower, production could exceed the short 2002 crop of 9.7 mi...
AP-011, February 24, 2003
ERS's Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Program (FANRP) supports intramural and extramural research on a wide range of policy-relevant food assistance and nutrition topics. The three perennial program themes are (1) diet and nutritional outcomes, (2) food program targeting and delivery, and (3)...
AER-820, February 03, 2003
This report analyzes how U.S. consumption of food commodities is projected to rise through 2020. The study uses date from USDA's food intake survey to project the consumption, through 2020, of 25 food groups and 22 commodity groups.
AER-818, February 01, 2003
Rapid change in the size and ownership structure of U.S. hog production has created new and varied challenges for the industry. This report describes an industry becoming increasingly concentrated among fewer and larger farms, and becoming more economically efficient. These changes have not come wit...
AER-822, February 01, 2003
Decoupled payments are lump-sum income transfers to farm operators that do not depend on current production, factor use, or commodity prices. Such payments are not currently constrained by global trade rules, but many countries argue that they distort production and trade and that their use should b...
RA-174, January 14, 2003
This issue discusses a number of topics concerning rural America, including rural population loss and migration, recreation counties and their rapid growth, U.S.-China trade, federal funding in rural America, rural land ownership, rural infrastructure, and rural employment growth. Updates on rural c...
FANRR-27, October 01, 2002
The mission of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) is to safeguard the health of low-income women, infants, and children up to age 5 who are at nutrition risk. WIC provides nutritious foods to supplement diets, nutrition education, and referrals to healt...
AIB-777, September 01, 2002
Economic research on recent growth patterns in the U.S. organic sector, by market category, and a description of the marketing channels for major organic commodity groups. A summary of various research, regulatory, and other ongoing programs on organic agriculture in the U.S. Department of Agricultu...
VGS-292, August 22, 2002
The first estimate for the 2002 dry edible bean crop indicates a 39-percent increase from a year ago. Harvested area and per-acre yields are both expected to increase. U.S. dry edible
bean growers reacted to depleted stocks and the highest prices in a decade by increasing area for harvest to 1.69 m...
AER-811, August 01, 2002
The U.S. Food Marketing System, 2002 provides a detailed overview of the structure, performance, information systems, new technology, and foreign direct investment of the food manufacturing, wholesaling, grocery retailing, and food service sectors, including a comprehensive set of appendix tables co...
SB-974-5, July 15, 2002
The average cost of producing a bushel of wheat was $3.97 for producers surveyed in 1998, ranging from about $1.25 to more than $6 per bushel. The cost of producing wheat generally declined as farm size increased. Regional differences in production practices and growing conditions were major influen...
AER-812, July 01, 2002
Agricultural policy is rooted in the 1930's notion that providing transfers of money to the farm sector translates into increased economic well-being of farm families. This report shows that neither change in income for the farm sector nor for any particular group of farm business can be presumed to...
AER-813, July 01, 2002
The purpose of the report is to determine the potential for increased grain exports from Russia and Ukraine. The report reviews the evidence on the productivity of agricultural production, and explores some of the causes of inefficient practices. Results of the analyses show that implementing instit...
EFAN-02-013, July 01, 2002
This report provides a toolkit of standardized measurement tools for assessing various aspects of community food security. It includes a general guide to community assessment and focused materials for examining six basic assessment components related to community food security. These include guides ...
AER-804, May 17, 2002
This report examines changes in hamburger preparation behavior, the reasons for the changes, the medical costs saved as a result of the changes, and the implications for future food safety education.
AER-807, May 02, 2002
The report examines the role of contracts and vertical integration in reducing transaction costs. The report further explores benefits from new methods of vertical coordination and the implications for future research.
AER-810, May 01, 2002
This report uses USDA survey data to examine the extent to which US farmers have adopted bioengineered crops, factors affecting adoption of these crops, and the impacts of bioengineered crops on input use and farm-level net returns.
TB-1898, April 19, 2002
The economic well-being of the U.S. population with incomes below 130 percent of the official poverty guideline is of special interest to policymakers and food assistance program administrators. For example, the Food Stamp Program uses gross income below this level as one of several criteria for det...
AER-809, April 18, 2002
The economic development of South Korea is often considered a model for developing countries. We use 1975 and 1990 data in a general equilibrium framework with a highly disaggregated sector specification to evaluate the opportunity cost of its agricultural protection. We show that although agricultu...
VGS-290, April 18, 2002
According to preliminary ERS estimates, per capita vegetable and melon use (consumption) declined 1 percent in 2001 to 448 pounds. Fresh-market use (excluding potatoes) was unchanged at 173 pounds while freezing (down 1 percent) and canning (down 3 percent) use were lower. Per capita use of potatoes...
SB-947-4, April 11, 2002
Average soybean production costs ranged from $2.13 per bushel for producers in the lowest cost quartile to $6.00 per bushel for those in the highest cost quartile. Heartland, West, and Northern Crescent producers had lower soybean production costs per bushel than Mississippi Portal and Southeast pro...
AIB-775, April 01, 2002
Assessment of issues that will affect China's future trends in consumption, production, import, and export of food and agricultural commodities. A series of 13 articles cover China's food consumption, marketing, international trade, agricultural policy, transportation infrastructure, regional divers...
AP-010, March 08, 2002
ERS's Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Program accepted proposals for grants and cooperative agreements for fiscal 2002. The five priority research areas were (1) Program Design and Operations, (2) Food Assistance as a Safety Net, (3) Obesity, (4) Eating Patterns, Diet Quality, and Health Outc...
AER-806, March 01, 2002
The report examines how economic reform in the transition countries of the former Soviet bloc has transformed the volume and mix of these countries' agricultural production, consumption, and trade. The report concludes that output decline has been an inevitable part of market reform and that the mai...
AP-009, January 03, 2002
ERS's Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Program (FANRP) supports intramural and extramural research on a wide range of policy-relevant food assistance and nutrition topics. The three perennial program themes are (1) diet and nutritional outcomes, (2) food program targeting and delivery, and (3)...
WRS-013, December 28, 2001
This report identifies key factors underlying the agricultural productivity growth and enhanced international competitiveness of Brazil and Argentina in the past decade. Economic and policy reforms, infrastructure development, and enhanced use of agricultural inputs that drove output growth during t...
VGS-288, December 14, 2001
The November 2001 estimate of U.S. fall-season potato production is 401 million hundredweight (cwt). When added to the winter, spring, and summer potato crops, this places total production for the 2001 crop year at 442 million cwt, 14 percent below a year ago. In response to reduced production, U.S....
SB-974-3, November 16, 2001
Differences in regional conditions were the chief influence on variations in cow-calf production costs across the United States. Cow-calf operators in the West and Southern Plains have significant cost advantages over operators in other regions because, with a longer grazing season, their herds requ...
AER-805, November 06, 2001
This report provides original estimates of private sector agricultural research and development efforts in Asia during the 1990s. The report examines seven Asia countries (India, Pakistan, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and China). The examination provides an assessment of the trend...
SB-974-2, October 26, 2001
Producing a pound of cotton cost U.S. farmers 38 cents in operating costs and another 35 cents in overhead costs in 1997, the latest survey year. Individual farm costs ranged from 18 cents to $1.97 per pound for operating costs and from 28 cents to $2.96 per pound for total costs. The Prairie Gatewa...
SB-973, September 08, 2001
This report provides land use estimates for major land uses in the United States, by State for 1997.
SB-974-1, August 30, 2001
The production costs for a bushel of corn ranged from an average of $1.19 per bushel for those farmers in the lowest quartile to $3.67 per bushel for corn farmers in the highest quartile, ranked by production costs per bushel. Producers with high corn production costs per bushel tended to have both ...
VGS-285, August 21, 2001
This summer (largely July-September 2001), fresh-market vegetable and melon area for harvest is forecast to rise 2 percent from a year ago. Increased acreage is a reflection of stronger grower prices since last summer. California, accounting for 50 percent of this year’s summer-season area, increase...
AER-803, June 30, 2001
Land development in the United States is following two routes: expansion of urban areas and large-lot development (greater than 1 acre per house) in rural areas. Urban expansion claimed more than 1 million acres per year between 1960 and 1990, yet is not seen as a threat to most farming, although it...
AIB-771, June 15, 2001
Census of agriculture data were used to estimate manure nutrient production and the capacity of cropland and pastureland to assimilate nutrients. Most farms (78 percent for nitrogen and 69 percent for phosphorus) have adequate land on which it is physically feasible to apply the manure produced onfa...
WRS-01-1, May 30, 2001
Higher income, urbanization, other demographic shifts, improved transportation, and consumer perceptions regarding quality and safety are changing global food consumption patterns. Shifts in food consumption have led to increased trade and changes in the composition of world agricultural trade. Give...
AIB-769, May 25, 2001
This report describes a farm typology developed by the Economic Research Service (ERS), which categorizes farms into more homogeneous groups than classifications based on sales volume alone, producing a more effective policy development tool. The typology is used to describe U.S. farm structure.
AER-802, May 15, 2001
Agricultural trade barriers and producer subsidies inflict real costs, both on the countries that use these policies and on their trade partners. This report quantifies the costs of global agricultural distortions and the potential benefits of their full elimination. The report concludes that elimin...
AIB-766, May 01, 2001
Feeding low levels of antimicrobial drugs to livestock affects food safety, human health, and livestock production costs and returns. This report examines the economics of antimicrobial resistance in livestock and the economic implications of banning the use of growth-enhancing antimicrobial drugs i...
AIB-765, April 23, 2001
Included here are a number of short multidisciplinary issue papers that address how food security in the United States and throughout the world is affected by issues like trade liberalization, income distribution, and natural resources. ERS research shows that more than 800 million people are hungry...
FANRR-14, April 20, 2001
This report develops an accounting tool for measuring how the average benefit amount in the U.S. Food Stamp Program is affected by each major component of the rules that determine the benefit level. This tool is used to compare the benefits received by different subpopulations, distinguished by pove...
AER-800, April 16, 2001
This report analyzes the effects of the current Federal tax code on farming. It is the first study that applies the ERS farm typology to tax data. The study was initiated by the USDA National Commission on Small Farms and also evaluates tax proposals to assist beginning farmers. Investment, manageme...
AP-008, April 06, 2001
ERS's Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Program accepted proposals for grants and cooperative agreements for fiscal 2001. The five priority research areas were (1) Workforce Attachment, Income Volatility, and Administrative Costs, (2) Food Assistance as a Safety Net, (3) Targeting High Needs Su...
AER-801, April 02, 2001
Over the next several years, crop prices are projected to be below to slightly above commodity loan rates. As a result, marketing loan benefits to farmers, in the form of loan deficiency payments and marketing loan gains from the commodity loan program, are likely to continue to be sizeable. The lev...
AER-799, April 01, 2001
This report examines how product liability law treats personal injuries attributed to microbially contaminated foods. The risk of lawsuits stemming from microbial foodborne illness and the resulting court-awarded compensation may create economic incentives for firms to produce safer food. It is not ...
AIB-763, March 19, 2001
Consolidation in the agricultural biotechnology industry can both enhance and dampen market competition. This report examines the causes and consequences of industry consolidation and its effect on market efficiency. In some cases, concentration realizes economies of scale, which can improve market ...
AIB-762, March 19, 2001
This report analyzes the economic aspects of several key areas--agricultural research policy, industry structure, production and marketing, consumer issues, and future world food demand--where agricultural biotechnology is dramatically affecting the public policy agenda.
AP-007, March 07, 2001
ERS's Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Program (FANRP) supports intramural and extramural research on a wide range of policy-relevant food assistance and nutrition topics. The three perennial program themes are (1) diet and nutritional outcomes, (2) food program targeting and delivery, and (3)...
FANRR-13, March 01, 2001
A minimum of $3.6 billion would be saved if breastfeeding were increased from current levels (64 percent in-hospital, 29 percent at 6 months) to those recommended by the U.S. Surgeon General (75 and 50 percent). This figure is likely an underestimation of the total savings because it represents cost...
AIB-761, February 28, 2001
Over the past 125 years, a complex system of both public and private pricing institutions has evolved to deal with milk production, assembly, and distribution. The pricing of milk in the United States is part market-determined, and part publicly administered through a wide variety of pricing regulat...
AER-793, January 25, 2001
Federal intervention in food labeling is often proposed with the aim of achieving a social goal such as improving human health and safety, mitigating environmental hazards, averting international trade disputes, or supporting domestic agricultural and food manufacturing industries. Economic theory s...
AER-794, January 25, 2001
Agri-environmental policy is at a crossroads. Over the past 20 years, a wide range of policies addressing the environmental implications of agricultural production have been implemented at the Federal level. Those policies have played an important role in reducing soil erosion, protecting and restor...
AER-795, January 25, 2001
In the past year, trade practices between fresh produce shippers and food retailers gained national attention. Shippers are concerned that recent retail consolidation has led to market power and the growing incidence of fees and services. Retailers argue that these new trade practices reflect their ...
AER-796, January 25, 2001
High protection for agricultural commodities in the form of tariffs continues to be the major factor restricting world trade. The large differences in average tariffs across countries make it possible for farmers in one country to benefit from tariff protection while farmers in other countries lose ...
AER-797, January 25, 2001
Agricultural trade barriers and producer subsidies inflict real costs, both on the countries that use these policies and on their trade partners. Trade barriers lower demand for trade partners’ products, domestic subsidies can induce an oversupply of agricultural products which depresses world price...
AER-792, January 01, 2001
The U.S. Department of Agriculture Area Studies Project was designed to characterize the extent of adoption of nutrient, pest, soil, and water management practices and to assess the factors that affect adoption for a wide range of management strategies across different natural resource regions. The ...
AER-790, November 28, 2000
An average of 875,000 persons 15 years of age and older did hired farmwork each week as their primary job in 1998. An additional 63,000 people did hired farmwork each week as their secondary job. Hired farmworkers were more likely than the typical U.S. wage and salary worker to be male, Hispanic, yo...
AER-791, November 16, 2000
The level and distribution of the costs and benefits of the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) regulatory program for meat and poultry change dramatically once economywide effects are included in the analysis. Using a Social Accounting Matrix Model, we find that reduced premature dea...
AER-789, November 03, 2000
Public health policies intended to reduce the incidence of smoking-related disease adversely affect thousands of tobacco farmers, manufacturers, and other businesses that produce, distribute, and sell tobacco products. This report assesses the likely impacts of declining tobacco demand, and identifi...
AER-787, November 02, 2000
Cost function analyses using data from the U.S. Bureau of the Census reveal substantial scale economies in chicken and turkey slaughter. These economies show no evidence of diminishing as plant size increases, are much greater than those realized in cattle and hog slaughter, and have resulted in a h...
AH-720, October 27, 2000
The U.S. dairy industry faces a changing government policy environment in the year 2000. Milk producers are struggling, and will continue to struggle, to adjust to markets that are more dependent on the forces of supply and demand. Data from the 1993-95 Farm Costs and Returns Surveys and the 1996 Ag...
AER-788, October 02, 2000
Discussions in the public arena have raised fundamental questions about the ultimate goals of farm policy and the need for establishing a safety net for farm households. This report examines four scenarios for government assistance to agriculture based on the concept of ensuring some minimum standar...
AIB-759, September 01, 2000
The Economic Research Service (ERS) developed a farm typology which categorizes farms into more homogeneous groups than do classifications based on sales volume alone, producing a more effective policy development tool. The typology is used to describe U.S. farms.
AH-719, July 01, 2000
About 34 percent of U.S. farms in 1997 used hired labor, and 12 percent used contract labor. Hired labor costs averaged 12 percent of total farm production expenses in 1997, but amounted to as much as 44 percent of production expenses for horticultural specialty crop producers, 40 percent for fruit ...
AER-786, May 01, 2000
Adoption of genetically engineered crops with traits for pest management has risen dramatically since their commercial introduction in the mid-1990's. The farm-level impacts of such crops on pesticide use, yields, and net returns vary with the crop and technology examined. Adoption of herbicide-tole...
AP-006, March 01, 2000
ERS's Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Program accepted proposals for grants and cooperative agreements for fiscal 2000. The four priority research areas were (1) Reaching Underserved Populations, (2) Food Programs as a Safety Net and Client Well-Being, (3) Child Nutrition, and (4) Behavioral ...
AGES-001E, January 20, 2000
Industrial hemp has been the focus of official interest in several States. However, hemp and marijuana are different varieties of Cannabis sativa, which is classified as a controlled substance in the United States. With Canada now allowing hemp production, questions have been raised about the demand...
AP-005, January 03, 2000
ERS's Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Program (FANRP) supports intramural and extramural research on a wide range of policy-relevant food assistance and nutrition topics. The three perennial program themes are (1) diet and nutritional outcomes, (2) food program targeting and delivery, and (3)...
AER-781, October 01, 1999
Climate, topography, and water area are highly related to rural county population change over the past 25 years. A natural amenities index, derived and discussed here, captures much of this relationship. Average 1970-96 population change in nonmetropolitan counties was 1 percent among counties low o...
AIB-752, July 01, 1999
For U.S. agriculture to continue along a sustainable path of economic development, further production increases must be generated by technologies that are both profitable and more environmentally benign. In this context, we assess the role of these green or sustainable technologies in steering agric...
AER-780, June 01, 1999
Food prices, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), increased 2.6 percent in 1997. This increase was greater than the overall increase in the CPI (which rose 2.3 percent) for the third consecutive year. Higher charges for processing and distributing food, as measured by the farm-to-retail pr...
AER-778, May 13, 1999
The range of environmental problems confronting agriculture has expanded in recent years. As the largest program designed to mitigate the negative environmental effects of agriculture, the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) has broadened its initial focus on reductions in soil erosion to consider ot...
AIB-750, May 01, 1999
Individual chapters in this book provide different perspectives on the nutrition problem in the United States: what are the economic costs associated with unhealthy eating patterns; how do dietary patterns compare with dietary recommendations; how do national income and prices, advertising, health c...
SB-965, April 02, 1999
This annual bestseller presents historical data on food consumption, prices, and expenditures by commodity and commodity group, supply and use, prices, total expenditures, and U.S. income and population. Includes 29 charts dealing with food consumption trends, from changes in per capita consumption,...
AER-777, April 01, 1999
This report compares current changes in vertical coordination in the U.S. pork industry with past changes in the U.S. broiler industry. Recent changes in the structure of the U.S. pork industry reflect, in many ways, past changes in the broiler industry. Production contracts and vertical integration...
AIB-751-01, April 01, 1999
The Food and Rural Economics Division of ERS designed the following series of policy-oriented, timely publications to provide background and analysis for decision makers and others.
TB-1874, April 01, 1999
In early 1996, the peak in the current cycle of cattle inventories coincided with a long list of negative factors--negative returns at the farm and feedlot, record-high feed grain prices, a severe drought in 1995-96, widening farm-retail price spreads, a low farmers' share of the consumers' Choice b...
AER-776, March 01, 1999
Establishments in metropolitan and nonmetropolitan locations are surprisingly similar in their adoption of new technologies, worker skill requirements, use of government programs and technical assistance, exports, and sources of financing, according to the results of a nationwide survey of 3,909 man...
AER-785, March 01, 1999
Meatpacking consolidated rapidly in the last two decades: slaughter plants became much larger, and concentration increased as smaller firms left the industry. We use establishment-based data from the U.S. Census Bureau to describe consolidation and to identify the roles of scale economies and techno...
AIB-748, March 01, 1999
This study provides a comprehensive view of the organization, management, and financial performance of U.S. broiler farms. Using data from USDA's Agricultural Resource Management Study (ARMS, formerly known as the Farm Costs and Returns Survey), we examine farm size, financial structure, household i...
AP-004, February 24, 1999
ERS's Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Program accepted proposals for grants and cooperative agreements for fiscal 1999. The five priority research areas were (1) The Food Stamp Program as a Safety Net, (2) Better Serving the Working Poor, (3) WIC Program Research, (4) Child Nutrition Issues, ...
AP-003, November 20, 1998
ERS's Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Program (FANRP) supports intramural and extramural research on a wide range of policy-relevant food assistance and nutrition topics. The three perennial program themes are (1) diet and nutritional outcomes, (2) food program targeting and delivery, and (3)...
AER-771, November 02, 1998
Regional trade agreements (RTA's) have become a fixture in the global trade arena. Their advocates contend that RTA's can serve as building blocks for multilateral trade liberalization. Their opponents argue that these trade pacts will divert trade from more efficient nonmember producing countries. ...
AER-765, September 01, 1998
Society has recently increased the value it places on the services that wetlands provide, including water quality improvements, flood control, wildlife habitat, and recreation. However, owners of wetlands are often unable to profit from these services because the benefits created are freely enjoyed ...
AER-770, September 01, 1998
With environmental and energy source concerns on the rise, using agricultural fats and oils as fuel in diesel engines has captured increasing attention. Substituting petroleum diesel with biodiesel may reduce air emissions, increase the domestic supply of fuel, and create new markets for farmers. U....
AIB-724, August 21, 1998
The Food and Rural Economics Division of ERS designed the following series of policy-oriented, timely publications to provide background and analysis for decisionmakers and others. The Federal Government is heavily involved in both public and private finance in the rural and agricultural sectors. Su...
AER-767, August 01, 1998
This report provides baseline projections for international supply, demand, and trade for major agricultural commodities to 2007. It is a companion report to USDA Agricultural Baseline Projections, providing the foreign country details supporting those projections. Projections of strong global econo...
AER-764, July 31, 1998
Under the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997, most farmers will pay less Federal income tax, and farm families will find it easier to transfer the family farm across generations. The new law--the tax portion of 1997 legislation to balance the Federal budget by 2002--emerges from years of debate on proposal...
AP-002, April 06, 1998
ERS's Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Program accepted proposals for grants and cooperative agreements for fiscal 1998. The three priority research areas were (1) Dietary and Nutrition Outcomes, (2) Food Program Targeting and Delivery, (3) Program Forecasting and Budget Analysis. This publica...
AER-760, March 01, 1998
Foreign direct investment (FDI) has become the leading means for U.S. processed food companies to participate in international markets. Affiliates of U.S.-owned food processing companies had $30 billion in sales throughout the Western Hemisphere in 1995, nearly 4 times the level of processed food ex...
AER-758, January 01, 1998
Growth of U.S. agriculture is dependent on increases in productivity, three-fourths of which is accounted for by public investment in agricultural research and development (R&D) and infrastructure, according to this research. Productivity growth in U.S. agriculture benefits consumers by putting down...
AER-759, December 01, 1997
Low-income households may face higher food prices for three reasons: (1) on average, low-income households may spend less in supermarkets--which typically offer the lowest prices and greatest range of brands, package sizes, and quality choices; (2) low-income households are less likely to live in su...
AER-757, September 01, 1997
The U.S. dairy industry, many segments of which supported dairy policy changes in the 1996 Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act, is much different than it was 20 or even 10 years ago. This report provides a historical overview of the industry, more detailed examinations of the fluid milk m...
AER-755, July 01, 1997
USDA is now requiring all Federally inspected meat and poultry processing and slaughter plants to implement a new system called Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) to reduce potentially harmful microbial pathogens in the food supply. This report finds that the benefits of the new reg...
AER-756, July 01, 1997
Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) is an autoimmune reaction that can cause acute neuro-muscular paralysis. Of an estimated 2,628 to 9,575 new U.S. cases with GBS annually, 526 to 3,830 are triggered by infection with Campylobacter, the most frequently isolated cause of foodborne diarrhea. Estimated tota...
AH-712, July 01, 1997
This report identifies trends in land, water, and commercial input use, reports on the condition of natural resources used in the agricultural sector, and describes and assesses public policies that affect conservation and environmental quality in agriculture. Combining data and information, this re...
AER-752, June 01, 1997
Nitrates in drinking water, which may come from nitrogen fertilizers applied to crops, are a
potential health risk. This report evaluates the potential benefits of reducing human exposure to
nitrates in the drinking water supply. In a survey, respondents were asked a series of questions
about the...
AER-750, May 01, 1997
This report provides baseline projections for international supply, demand, and trade for major agricultural commodities to 2005. It is a companion report to Agricultural Baseline Projections to 2005, Reflecting the 1996 Farm Act (WAOB-97-1), providing the foreign country detail supporting those pro...
AER-749, April 01, 1997
In response to a mandate in the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996, this report provides information on the major financial institutions and Federal programs active in rural America, the performance of rural financial markets, and the costs and benefits of proposals to expand the...
AER-746, December 31, 1996
Recent USDA surveys point out several shortcomings in children's diets. The share of calories from total and saturated fat averaged 4 and 3 percentage points above the recommendations. The sodium intake averaged 23 percent above the 2,400 milligrams recommended by some authorities. These dietary pro...
AER-747, December 01, 1996
Contracts are an integral part of the production and marketing of selected livestock commodities, such as broilers, turkeys, eggs, and milk. Such crops as fruit, vegetables, and sugar beets and cane are mostly produced under contracts. In the past, farm receipts were assumed to be distributed across...
AER-744, November 29, 1996
Property rights arise out of law, custom, and the operation of private markets, with important implications for how land and other natural resources are used and conserved. Over the past several years, debate about the nature and scope of property rights has combined with budget concerns and reautho...
AER-741, August 01, 1996
Microbial pathogens in food cause an estimated 6.5-33 million cases of human illness and up to 9,000 deaths in the United States each year. Over 40 different foodborne microbial pathogens, including fungi, viruses, parasites, and bacteria, are believed to cause human illnesses. For six bacterial pat...
AER-739, July 01, 1996
The United States produces nearly 20 percent of the world's cotton and ranks second to China as the largest producing country. While over 80 countries produce cotton, the United States, China, India, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan (former Soviet republic) produce about 74 percent of the total world cotton...
AER-740, June 01, 1996
Early evaluations of the effects of climate change on agriculture, which did not account for economic adjustments or consider the broader economic and environmental implications of such changes, overestimated the negative effects of climate change. This report, which highlights ERS research, focuses...
AER-735, May 01, 1996
Empirical studies indicate high economic returns from the public's investment in agricultural research. Yet, even as society is placing broader demands on the research system, taxpayer support for public agricultural research is unlikely to increase. Stronger ownership rights for intellectual proper...
AER-738, May 01, 1996
Many trade and environment issues will confront agriculture over the next several years. This report provides an economic framework to better understand these issues and discusses prior empirical inquiries and findings. Four primary issues are addressed: (1) how will environmental policies affect ag...
AIB-709, July 03, 1995
On both a volume and value basis, the United States is the world's largest spice importer and consumer, with both imports and consumption on an uptrend for the past 10 years. While the United States imports more than 40 separate spices, seven of these (vanilla beans, black and white pepper, capsicum...
AER-721, July 01, 1995
Studies conducted since the late 1970's have estimated the net energy value of corn ethanol. However, variations in data and assumptions used among the studies have resulted in a wide range of estimates. This study identifies the factors causing this wide variation and develops a more consistent est...
AER-703, June 01, 1995
Recent studies suggest that possible global increases in temperature and changes in precipitation patterns during the next century will affect world agriculture. Because of the ability of farmers to adapt , however, these changes are not likely to imperil world food production. Nevertheless, world p...
AER-716, June 01, 1995
Since 1985, the United States has heavily supported agricultural exports with an array of programs. A central issue related to those programs is how best to support farm exports, and farm income, with lower price subsidies under the Uruguay Round Agreement of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Tra...
AER-701, January 02, 1995
Concerns about the impact of farm production on the quality of the Nation's drinking and recreational water resources have risen over the past 10 years. Because point sources of pollution were controlled first, agricultural nonpoint sources have become the Nation's largest remaining single water-qua...
AH-705, December 01, 1994
This report identifies trends in land, water, and commercial input use, reports on the condition of natural resources used in the agricultural sector, and describes and assesses public policies that affect conservation and environmental quality in agriculture. Combining data and information, this re...
AIB-498, April 01, 1986
The Food Security Act of 1985 (P.L. 99-198) establishes a comprehensive framework within which the Secretary of Agriculture will administer agriculture and food programs from 1986 through 1990. This report describes the Act's provisions for dairy, wool and mohair, wheat, feed grains, cotton, rice, p...
AP-039, April 29, 1983
Weak domestic demand, the first drop in exports in more than a decade, and large farm surpluses placed significant downward pressure on commodity prices and farm incomes and created the potential for large government outlays. The payment-in-kind (PIK) program was designed to idle substantial acreage...