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​​Resource Requirements of Food Demand​ - Documentation

This page provides the following information:

Data Sources

The Resource Requirements of Food Demand (RRFD) data are constructed using the Agri-Food Economic Data System (Ag-FEDS) and resource data, mostly from government agencies: employment data from the National Income and Product Accounts come from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, energy data from the State Energy Data System come from the Energy Information Administration, and water data from the National Water Information System come from the U.S. Geological Survey. Additional data sources used are documented in tables 2–4 in Rehkamp et al. (2025) and table 5 in Rehkamp et al. (2026).

Coverage of the Data

RRFD measures national resource use in the U.S. food system from farm inputs to households, including the resources used to market and transport imported food and beverages. 

RRFD provides one dataset across the following dimensions:

  • Annually from 2010 to 2023
  • 3 resources:
    • Energy in billion British thermal units (bBtu) from 14 sources:
      • All petroleum products
      • Biofuel
      • Coal
      • Coal coke
      • Electrical system energy losses
      • Electricity sales
      • Geothermal
      • Hydroelectric
      • Natural gas (including supplemental gaseous fuels)
      • Solar
      • Supplemental gaseous fuels
      • Wind
      • Wood
      • Wood and biomass waste
    • Employment in full- or part-time employees
    • Freshwater withdrawals in million gallons (Mgal)
  • 4 marketing channels:
    • Food at home (including non-alcoholic beverages) with 28 food and beverage categories:
      • Cereals
      • Bakery products
      • Beef
      • Pork
      • Other meats
      • Poultry
      • Fish and seafood
      • Fresh milk
      • Processed dairy products
      • Fresh eggs
      • Processed eggs
      • Fats and oils (including mayonnaise)
      • Fresh fruits
      • Fresh vegetables
      • Canned, frozen, and dried fruits and vegetables
      • Sugar and sweets
      • Snack foods
      • Frozen prepared foods
      • Processed fruit and vegetable canning and drying (e.g., soups, catsup, pickles)
      • Seasonings, sauces (except tomato), and dressings (excluding mayonnaise)
      • Dry, condensed, and evaporated dairy and non-dairy products
      • Tree nuts and peanuts (unprocessed)
      • Fresh cut produce plus grab-and-go foods
      • Miscellaneous foods and ingredients
      • Fruit and vegetable juices
      • Food consumed on farms
      • Coffee, tea, and beverage materials (except soft drinks)
      • Soft drinks and bottled water
    • Alcohol at home with 3 food and beverage categories:
      • Beer
      • Wine
      • Spirits
    • Food away from home (including non-alcoholic beverages) with 6 subchannels:
      • Food at full-service restaurants
      • Food at limited-service restaurants
      • Food at schools and colleges
      • Food furnished to employees (including military)
      • Institutional and employer furnished meals plus food assistance
      • Food and non-alcoholic beverages at work (per diem and expensing)
    • Alcohol away from home with 3 subchannels:
      • Alcohol at full-service restaurants
      • Alcohol at limited-service restaurants
      • Alcohol at other food and drinking places
  • 16 supply chain stages:
    • Agribusiness
    • Crops
    • Livestock
    • Forestry, fishing, and agricultural services
    • Food processing
    • Transportation and storage
    • Food wholesale
    • Food retail
    • Food services
    • Energy (only available for employment and water)
    • Finance and insurance (only available for employment)
    • Legal and accounting (only available for employment)
    • Advertising (only available for employment)
    • Household transportation (only applies to at-home food and beverages)
    • Home kitchen operations: Kitchen equipment (only applies to at-home food and beverages)
    • Home kitchen operations: Kitchen utilities (only applies to at-home food and beverages)

The figure shows the hierarchical nature and relationship between the RRFD data tables: 

This figure shows how the Resource Requirements of Food Demand data tables are organized in relation to each other.

Download chart image

Additionally, the following groupings are routinely made to present the data for sources and supply chain stages:

  • Sources:
    • Coal includes coal and coal coke.
    • Electricity includes electricity system energy losses and electrical sales.
    • Natural gas includes natural gas (including supplemental gaseous fuels) and supplemental gaseous fuels.
    • Renewable fuels includes biofuel, geothermal, hydroelectric, solar, wood, wood and biomass waste, and wind.
  • Supply chain stages:
    • Food wholesale and retail includes food wholesale and food retail stages.
    • Business services include finance and insurance, legal and accounting, and advertising stages.
    • Households include household transportation, home kitchen operations: kitchen equipment, and home kitchen operations: kitchen utilities stages.

Methods

Resources in physical units are linked to economy-wide production activities and then a resources multiplier model generates embodied resource use to capture salient attributes of the U.S. food system.

Three companion ERS technical bulletins extensively document the methods used to develop these data:

Linking Resource Flows to Economic Sectors in the United States documents how the resource multipliers matrix is developed.

Documentation for the Agri-Food Economic Data System (Ag-FEDS): A More Complete Accounting of the U.S. Agri-Food Economy documents how Ag-FEDS, both a data system and modeling platform, is developed.

Documentation for the Agri-Food Economic Data System (Ag-FEDS): Multiplier Model Applications documents how the resource multipliers matrix and Ag-FEDS are used in conjunction to generate the RRFD data.

Strengths and Limitations

RRFD provides estimates of resource use that are specific to the U.S. food system and at a level of detail that was not previously available, using the underlying Agri-Food Economic Data System (Rehkamp & Canning, 2025; Rehkamp et al., 2026). The resource multiplier modeling approach allows for consistent boundaries of analysis and data output compared to other approaches, so the results are comparable and comprehensive. Advanced research methods are used to more accurately link resources to production activities (including developing a weighting matrix, allocating resources at the subnational level when possible, and emphasizing the detail for agricultural sectors’ allocation) (Rehkamp et al., 2025). Additionally, the annual time series across energy, employment, and water provides more frequent and timely data and allows for insights into the evolution of resource use.

The quality and accuracy of RRFD is dependent on the accuracy of the underlying data sources and the estimation techniques when used (see the concluding discussion in Rehkamp et al., 2025). Updates to RRFD are dependent on the release of input data, so the estimates are lagged from the current year. Additionally, there is no standard measure of accuracy for multiplier models.

Resources

References

Complete documentation of the data and methods is provided in the following ERS technical bulletins:

Rehkamp, S., Canning, P., Gómez, M. I., Zachary, J. C., & Baker, Q. (2025). Linking resource flows to economic sectors in the United States (Report No. TB-1972). U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.

Rehkamp, S., & Canning, P. (2025). Documentation for the Agri-Food Economic Data System (Ag-FEDS): A more complete accounting of the U.S. agri-food economy (Report No. TB-1973). U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.

Rehkamp, S., Zachary, J. C., Baker, Q., & Canning, P. (2026). Documentation for the Agri-Food Economic Data System (Ag-FEDS): Multiplier Model Applications (Report No. TB-1974). U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.

Related Data

Earlier work on U.S. food system resource use (using previous modeling approaches) is presented in the following ERS reports:

Tracking the U.S. Domestic Food Supply Chain’s Freshwater Use Over Time looks at U.S. food system water use over several time periods.

Resource Requirements of Food Demand in the United States considers the use of several resources by the U.S. food system in one time period.

The Role of Fossil Fuels in the U.S. Food System and the American Diet looks at U.S. food system energy use over several time periods, including a diet analysis.

The ERS Food Dollar is another multiplier model application built upon Ag-FEDS. The Food Dollar measures the value of domestic food production, in dollar-based units along similar dimensions as RRFD. RRFD differs from the Food Dollar in that the estimates are reported in physical units and the scope is different; RRFD includes the household stage for at-home food and beverages and also includes the resources used to market and transport direct imports.

Recommended Citation

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service. (2026). Resource Requirements of Food Demand [data product].