Food Availability: How To Use

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Use the custom queries page as your central navigation point. On the custom queries page you will be able to:

1. Select a food group or individual food(s) and year(s)
2. Select a table or chart output type (and choose a report style for tables)
3. Modify and manipulate tables and charts, print and download data and graphics

Step 1—Select commodities using the pull-down menu

	Commodities are available as groups or individually. Return to Custom Queries page

Commodity groups and subgroups
The following commodity groups are available. To view group/subgroup detail, see the commodity coverage page.
• Meat (group)	• Vegetables (group)
• Dairy (group)	• Grains (group)
• Fats and oils (group)	• Sweeteners (group)
• Fruit (group)	• Beverages (group)
View or print commodity group/subgroup full detail.
Return to Custom Queries page

Individual commodities
The following individual commodities within these commodity groups are available. To view the individual commodities available in the database, see the commodity coverage page. To select multiple items on the custom query page, hold down the [Ctrl] key while you click. Choose "Total selected commodities" to include a custom aggregated total for the items you select.
• Meat (individual)	• Nuts	• Grains (individual)
• Eggs	• Fruit and vegetables	• Sweeteners (individual)
• Dairy (individual)	• Fruit (individual)	• Coffee, tea, cocoa
• Fats and oils (individual)	• Vegetables (individual)	• Beverages (individual)
View or print individual commodities full detail.
Return to Custom Queries page

Years

All available years of data will appear for your selected commodities. Most but not all data go back to 1909; fruit and vegetables data, for example, begin in 1970. To select multiple years, hold down the [Ctrl] key while you click. The default selection will return data for all available years.

Return to Custom Queries page

Step 2 and Step 2a—Select an output type

Your options are Table or Chart

Table:

Choose "Submit" to create your table. Data are displayed in an html table. The format of the report style may be either "Crosstabulation" or "Listing."

• Crosstabulation: Commodity by year (default)

• Listing: One row for each commodity and year

Return to Custom Queries page

Chart:

Choose "Submit" to create your chart. Data are displayed in an interactive chart. Mouse over the chart to view data and labels. (This image is an example and is not interactive.)

At this point on the custom queries page, you may continue to work with the data, or you may choose "Reset" to start over.

Return to Custom Queries page

Modify, download, save, and print data tables and charts

Once you have created a table or chart you have several options. You may add or remove items by checking or unchecking boxes.

*Important: you must click the button to update the modified data. For charts, this option is particularly helpful to decipher lines drawn on top of or close to one another. Checking the "Total selected commodities" option will include a custom aggregated total for the items you select.

For both tables and charts you may:
	Download data in Excel format.
	Print in PDF format.
For charts you may also:
	Enlarge the interactive Flash version. Tip: To print the large Flash image, "right click" on the image and choose "Print."
	Save the image as a jpeg for use in presentations, etc.
d	View the "d link" description of the chart (used by screen readers for the visually impaired).

Return to Custom Queries page