Quick Facts
The food dollar series provides an overview of the food system, with estimates of the farm share and of the distribution of food-dollar value-added shares over time:
- For every dollar spent in 2016 in the U.S. on domestically produced food (food dollar), U.S. farmers sold 14.8 cents of farm products to non-farm establishments (farm share), down from 15.5 cents in 2015. The farm share is at its lowest recorded level between the years 1993 and 2016.
- Farm production costs per food dollar fell to 7.8 cents in 2016 and are at their lowest level since 2002.
- Foodservice costs per food dollar rose in 2016 to 36.3 cents, increasing for the 8th consecutive year since 2008; foodservice costs were 29.0 cents in 2008.
- U.S. worker salary and benefits increased from the previous year, accounting for 50.6 cents of each food dollar in 2016.