Amber Waves, May 06, 2013
Recent ERS research found that one-third of U.S. households with a working-age adult who was unable to work due to a disability were food insecure in 2009-10. Disability has emerged as one of the strongest known factors that affect a household’s food security.
Amber Waves, February 21, 2013
Grocery store purchase data reveal that Americans underspend on fruits, vegetables, and whole grains and overspend on refined grains, fats, and sugars/sweets, compared with USDA's dietary recommendations, a pattern that showed little change from 1998 to 2006. Food choices when eating out are even mo...
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.
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...
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...
FTS-353, September 27, 2012
Adverse weather is behind the forecast smaller U.S. apple, pear, and grape crops in 2012.
Amber Waves, September 20, 2012
Food preferences, nutrition knowledge, and access to stores and restaurants all share a role with food prices in consumers’ food purchasing decisions and related health outcomes. Price changes have limited effects on food choices and health outcomes, but the effects may be larger when paired with in...
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 flexib...
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...
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 ...
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.
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...
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...
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?
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-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...
Amber Waves, September 01, 2010
Population growth, higher per capita food expenditures, and greater reliance on energy-using technologies boosted food-related energy consumption in 1997 to 2002.
...
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...
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...
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...
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.
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...
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...
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 ...
FTS-32001, February 14, 2006
China has raised its profile in global fruit and vegetable markets, with the value of its exports during 2002-04 more than double the value from a decade earlier. Most of China's exports are processed fruits and vegetables that do not yet pose a serious challenge to U.S. exports. However, China's fr...
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...
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-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...
TB-1872, February 01, 1999
The results of this study indicate that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) has not systematically overestimated or underestimated the food costs incurred by the general population. True-cost-of-food indexes calculated for the general population tend to be the same as or slightly lower then the CPI excep...
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-742, April 02, 1997
International commerce in processed foods substantially exceeds the value of unprocessed agricultural commodities and is expanding more rapidly. International trade in processed foods has been the most rapidly growing portion of world food and agricultural trade during the past decade. Even more sig...