Rising incomes in China have led to a major shift in Chinese diets to include more livestock products. This dietary change, along with policy measures to spur growth in the industrialized feed industry and modern livestock production, has supported remarkable growth of soybean imports used to feed Chinese livestock while Chinese soybean production has been declining in favor of corn and rice production. The elimination of raw soybean import quotas and a surge in foreign investment in the Chinese soybean processing sector following China’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001 facilitated soybean imports from the United States and other world suppliers. The bulk of soybeans produced in China are for human consumption, while soybeans from the United States and South America, China’s two primary import sources, are crushed for feed and commercial oil uses. China has more than a 60-percent share of global soybean imports. This chart is found in the June Amber Waves article, “Crop Outlook Reflects Near-Term Prices and Longer Term Market Trends.”    

Farmers can adapt to their local climate in many ways, including through participation in USDA programs. In regions of the country that face higher levels of drought risk, farmers are more likely to offer eligible land for enrollment in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). As a consequence, CRP is both more competitive in these regions and drought-prone counties are more likely to face a binding CRP acreage enrollment cap. When counties are near their enrollment cap, farms are less likely to offer eligible land for CRP because those offers are less likely to be accepted for enrollment. In simulations of offer rates based on observed historical data, a national increase in the county CRP acreage enrollment cap to 35 percent of cropland in each county (from the current level of 25 percent), results in more offers from eligible farmers in drought prone regions of the Great Plains and the Intermountain West. This map is found in the ERS report, The Role of Conservation Programs in Drought Risk Adaptation, ERR-148, April 2013.

Disability has emerged as one of the strongest known factors that affect household food insecurity. Food-insecure households are those that lack consistent access to adequate food for one or more household members. Because they face higher expenses for health care and adaptive equipment, households affected by disabilities require higher incomes to meet their basic needs than do households without members with disabilities. Even households that have incomes greater than three times the poverty level have a relatively high likelihood of being food insecure if they include an adult with a disability. In 2009-10, an estimated 13 percent of households that included a working-age adult not in the labor force due to a disability, and had incomes at least three times the Federal poverty line ($22,113 for a family of four), were food insecure. About 9 percent of households in that income range with an adult with a non-work-preventing disability were food insecure. In comparison, about 4 percent of households in that income range with no working-age adults with disabilities were food insecure. This chart appears in the May 2013 Amber Waves feature article, “Disability Is an Important Risk Factor for Food Insecurity.”

U.S. honey production dropped 1.3 million pounds, or 1 percent, to 147.1 million pounds in 2012, continuing a declining trend since 2000. Despite a 5.3-percent increase in honey-producing bee colonies in the United States last year, the national average yield per colony fell by 6 percent, with the major honey-producing States of California and Montana largely responsible for the yield and production declines. Diminished U.S. bee colony populations associated with colony collapse disorder are a key factor in declining U.S. production. With a smaller domestic harvest, the average producer price of honey climbed 10.5 percent to $1.95 per pound in 2012, while the average retail price of natural honey rose 7.8 percent to $5.55 per pound. Lower domestic output and lower prices for imported honey also have led to continued growth in honey imports, with imports growing nearly 8 percent and accounting for nearly 70 percent of domestic use in 2012. This chart appears in Sugar and Sweeteners Outlook: April 2013 (SSSM-296).

As it has done with every decennial census since 1950, in late February 2013, the Office of Management and Budget announced the latest delineation of metropolitan areas in the United States. ERS uses this delineation as the foundation for its Rural-Urban Continuum Codes and Urban Influence Codes, which further identify each county by size of metro core (for metro counties), or degree of urbanization and proximity to metro areas (for nonmetro counties). Generally, nonmetro counties that grew rapidly over the previous decade are reclassified as metro. In the latest update, 113 nonmetro counties (with just under 5.9 million people) switched to metro status while 36 counties (with just over 1 million people) no longer qualified as metro, resulting in a net nonmetro population "loss" of 4.8 million from reclassification. The 1,976 counties now classified as nonmetro include 15 percent of the U.S. population (46 million people) and 72 percent of the Nation’s land area. This map is found on the ERS topic page, Population & Migration, updated May 2013.

In 2011, traditional foodstores—supermarkets, grocery stores, and specialty food stores—accounted for 69.9 percent of U.S. food-at-home sales, down from 76.8 percent in 2000. Much of the sales share loss by traditional foodstores came from supercenters and warehouse clubs capturing more of the food-at-home market. Over the last 11 years, warehouse clubs and supercenters’ share of food-at-home sales grew from 7.1 to 16.0 percent. More recently, dollar stores and drugstores have expanded their food offerings and increased their share of at-home food sales. Nonstore food sales—such as mail order, home delivery, and direct sales by farms, processors, and wholesalers—made up a smaller share of total at-home food sales in 2011 than in 2000, and mass merchandisers’ share dropped from 1.7 percent in 2000 to 0.6 percent in 2011. This chart appears in the Retailing & Wholesaling ERS topic page, updated March 2013.

The current Agreement on Agriculture of the World Trade Organization (WTO) limits how much members can spend on trade-distorting support. Members notify this spending as the aggregate measurement of support (AMS), commonly called the “amber box.” The U.S. limit, or ceiling, is currently $19.1 billion, reduced from a starting point of $23 billion in 1995. For developed countries, the AMS includes support for specific commodities (product-specific support) that totals more than 5 percent of the value of production of that commodity, and support generally available to producers (non-product specific support) that totals more than 5 percent of the country’s total value of agricultural production. For the United States, only a small number of commodities have been supported above the 5-percent minimum (or de minimis) level, and general support has never risen above that level. Even so, during several years of low commodity prices, U.S. program support led to AMS totals close to the WTO ceiling. In recent years, however, high commodity prices have reduced program spending, and an AMS has been notified to the WTO for only a few commodities. This chart is based on data found on the U.S. WTO Domestic Support Reduction Commitments and Notifications topic page on the ERS website.

The earned income tax credit (EITC) was enacted in 1975 to reduce the burden of Social Security taxes on low-income workers and to encourage them to seek employment rather than welfare benefits. The amount of the credit depends upon the number of qualifying children in the household and the level of earned and adjusted gross income. As a refundable tax credit, the EITC results in lower tax liabilities for qualifying low-income households that owe Federal income taxes and cash payments to those owing no taxes. The EITC has expanded over the past two decades and represents an increasing share of total Federal support to low-income households. In 2009, the credit provided roughly $55 billion to over 25 million low-income workers and their families. Rural households have historically had lower incomes and higher poverty rates than urban households. As a result, a disproportionately large share of rural taxpayers benefit from the EITC. In 2008, 21.6 percent of rural taxpayers received EITC benefits, compared with 16.9 percent of urban taxpayers. This chart comes from the ERS report, The Potential Impact of Tax Reform on Farm Businesses and Rural Households, EIB-107, February 2013.

Yields, along with crop area, determine the supply of domestically produced cereals, a crucial factor in determining food insecurity. Cereal yields recently have begun to increase in Sub-Saharan Africa, although from very low levels. The region’s yields remain less than half of average yields found in other lower income regions around the world that are included in the annual ERS International Food Security Assessment.  This report uses a model that projects food availability and access in 76 lower income countries in 4 regions: Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and North Africa. Many lower income countries have been unable to increase food production at the same rate as growth in their populations, turning to imports to fill the gap. In view of recent price spikes for grains governments and international organizations alike have renewed their focus on the importance of raising yields through increased research and support for inputs. This chart appears in "Global Food Security, A Goal, A Challenge" in the February 2013 issue of ERS's Amber Waves magazine tablet version.

Consumers can buy fluid milk in a variety of forms and at a variety of prices. A recent ERS report looked at purchases of milk products that contained three different fat contents, came in two container sizes, and were produced by either conventional or organic methods. In 2007-08, conventionally produced, low-fat milk in a gallon container was the most frequently bought fluid milk product (28 percent of all milk purchases), while organic milk in all fat contents and container sizes accounted for 3 percent of milk purchases. The researchers analyzed how changes in milk prices and household income affect purchase frequency among fluid milk products. They found that an increase in income or overall milk prices raises the probability that the household will purchase low fat milk. An increase in household income also raises the probability of purchasing organic milk. In general, the demand for organic milk is more sensitive to swings in income and price than is the demand for conventional milk. This chart is based on data in the ERS report, Households’ Choices Among Fluid Milk Products: What Happens When Income and Prices Change?, released April 16, 2013.