ERS
Contributions to Understanding Obesity Recognized
“ Weighing In on Obesity,” a collection of articles
in the final
issue of ERS’s FoodReview magazine, has been selected as a Merit
winner in the 2003 National Health Information Awards. Sponsored by the Health
Information Resource Center, a national clearinghouse for consumer health information
programs and materials, this award represents a “seal of quality” for
health professionals in search of consumer health information resources for their
programs. Other winners include the Mayo Clinic, and the National Cancer Institute.
These articles represent early contributions to ERS’s ongoing research
on the economic aspects of diet and health. Nicole
Ballenger
Rural
Demographic Trends from 2000 Census Data
Rural regions and communities are changing rapidly from increased inmigration,
changes in age and racial/ethnic composition, and related social and economic
restructuring. ERS is investigating whether these changing patterns are contributing
to the revitalization of many small towns or are seriously straining local
resources. Using newly released 2000 Census data, ERS, in cooperation with
Cornell University, will explore how changing demographic trends in rural areas
affect employment and earnings, family structure, human capital development,
land use, and social and economic well-being. William Kandel
Changing Patterns of Food Consumption
U.S. food consumption patterns have changed considerably
in the last three decades. ERS researchers are studying consumer
food preferences by age, income, region, race, site of consumption
(at home or away), and other characteristics and publishing
their results in a series of articles. The first article examined
the demographics of dry
bean consumption, while more recent reports have focused
on mushrooms
and oranges.
For example, the orange study found that per capita orange
consumption is greatest in the Northeast and West. Seniors
(men and women age 60 and over) consume the most fresh oranges
per capita, while children age 12 to 19 consume the most orange
juice. Future studies will focus on pork, beef, and chicken
consumption. These studies contribute to our understanding
of the consumer side of the market, an area we know much less
about than the supply side. Biing-Hwan Lin and Chris Davis
ERS Awards Grants for Research
on the Economics of Invasive Species Management
ERS recently awarded 12 grants totaling
$1.5 million for research on the economics of invasive species
management. Research
will focus on three areas: (1) the economics of trade and
invasive species, (2) resource implications of invasive
species
policy and program alternatives, and (3) bio-economic integration
and risk assessment. Award recipients and details of their
planned research are available at the ERS
briefing room on invasive species management.
Donna Roberts and Jan
Lewandrowski
