ERS Charts of Note
Subscribe to our Charts of Note series, which highlights economic research and analysis on agriculture, food, the environment, and rural America. Each week, this series highlights charts of interest from current and past ERS research.
At the end of the year, users can look forward to our Editors’ Picks of the Best of Charts of Note.
Wednesday, November 20, 2024
Chemical fertilizers have undergone significant changes in the composition and concentration of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potash over time. These quality changes mean that current fertilizers can be more effective than past ones, making it difficult to calculate the productivity of the agricultural sector from year to year. To accurately account for the role of fertilizer in agricultural productivity, USDA, Economic Research Service (ERS) researchers adjust for the changes in composition and concentration of fertilizer. They find that farmers used 2 times more fertilizer in 2021 than in 1948 when unadjusted for quality, and 2.5 times more fertilizer once adjusted for quality. The trend of increased fertilizer use for both unadjusted and adjusted quality can be partially explained by relative price changes between fertilizer and other inputs, which prompted producers to increase fertilizer use compared with other inputs, such as land and labor. For more on U.S. agricultural productivity trends, see the ERS topic page Agricultural Research and Productivity and the ERS data product Agricultural Productivity in the United States. This chart updates data appearing in the ERS report Measurement of Output, Inputs, and Total Factor Productivity in U.S. Agricultural Productivity Accounts, published in August 2024.
Tuesday, November 19, 2024
Households spend more money on food as their incomes rise, but the amount spent represents a smaller share of their overall budgets. U.S. households were divided into five equal groups, or quintiles, by household income. Households in the lowest income quintile had an average after-tax income of $16,171 and spent an average of $5,278 on food (about $102 a week) in 2023, which amounted to 32.6 percent of their income. Households in the middle income quintile had an after-tax income of $66,606 and spent an average of $8,989 on food (about $173 a week), representing 13.5 percent of their income. Households in the highest income quintile, with an average after-tax income of $211,042, spent an average of $16,996 on food (about $327 a week) in 2023. The share of income spent on food for that group was much smaller at 8.1 percent. As households gain more disposable income, they often shift to more expensive food options, including dining out. Food spending as a share of income rose across all income quintiles in 2023, as food prices increased faster than the overall inflation rate of 4.1 percent. Total food prices increased 5.8 percent in 2023, and food-at-home (grocery) prices increased 5.0 percent. However, despite higher-than-average food price increases from 2020–23, households’ share of income spent on food in 2023 was lower than in 2019 for the lowest three income quintiles and slightly higher for the highest two income quintiles. This chart appears in the Food Prices and Spending section of the USDA, Economic Research Service’s Ag and Food Statistics: Charting the Essentials data product.
Monday, November 18, 2024
U.S. farm establishments received 15.9 cents per dollar spent on domestically produced food in 2023 as compensation for farm commodity production. This amount, called the farm share, is a decrease of 0.1 cent from the 2022 share, which was revised up to 16.0 cents from 14.9 cents. The farm share covers operating expenses as well as input costs from nonfarm establishments. The remaining portion of the food dollar—known as the marketing share—covers post-farm costs such as transporting, processing, and selling food to consumers. The primary data sources for the USDA, Economic Research Service’s (ERS) Food Dollar Series underwent substantial revisions that were incorporated in the latest release. Revisions can affect the measurement of things such as farm commodity inputs to food production in the domestic economy, and this can lead to changes in the previously published farm shares. ERS uses input–output analysis to calculate the farm and marketing shares of a food dollar, which is a dollar constructed to represent all domestic expenditures of U.S. food. The data for this chart can be found in the ERS Food Dollar Series data product, updated November 18, 2024.
Thursday, November 14, 2024
The U.S. organic milk sector has expanded over the past three decades. In response to increased consumer demand for organic milk, producers increased the U.S. organic milk cow inventory from 2,265 cows in 1992 to 352,289 cows in 2021. This growth was paralleled by a rise in farm-level sales of organic milk, which grew by 88 percent from 2008 to 2021. Organic farm milk sales increased as a percentage of all U.S. farm milk sales from 1.5 percent in 2008 to 2.3 percent in 2021. Similarly, the number of organic dairy farms rose from 2008 to 2019, supporting higher production levels. From 2019 to 2021, however, the number of U.S. organic dairy farms selling milk decreased, with increasing milk production capacity offsetting the decline in farms. This chart is drawn from the USDA, Economic Research Service report, U.S. Certified Organic Dairy Production: Three Decades of Growth.
Wednesday, November 13, 2024
The poverty rate for rural children under 5 years old was the highest of any age group in both rural and urban areas, standing at 20.9 percent. The poverty status of children is based on their family’s total income, so it is typically correlated with labor force characteristics of the parent(s). Young adults often have low levels of education, may be enrolled in school, and may be early in their career or have limited time in the workforce, which may restrict their ability as parents to earn enough to be above the poverty level. In addition, workers in many rural areas face limited job opportunities and lower wages relative to urban areas. Single parenthood (only one potential earner) and lack of childcare can also inhibit parental engagement in the labor force. The poverty rate—the portion of the population living below the official poverty level—for the rural population in general was 13.6 percent (about 6 million people) in 2023 compared with 10.7 percent for the urban population. About 46 million people lived in rural counties in 2023, roughly 14 percent of the U.S. population. This figure appears in Rural America at a Glance: 2024 Edition, published in November 2024.
Tuesday, November 12, 2024
In 2023, households that included an adult with disabilities reported higher food insecurity rates than households with no adults with disabilities. Food-insecure households are those that had difficulty at some time during the year providing enough food for all their members because of a lack of resources. In 2023, 33.9 percent of U.S. households that included an adult out of the labor force because of a disability were food insecure (low and very low food security). Among U.S. households with an adult age 18–64 who reported a disability but was not out of the labor force because of it, 28.3 percent were food insecure. In contrast, 10.5 percent of households without an adult with disabilities were food insecure in 2023. Households that include at least one adult 65 and over who reported a disability had a food insecurity prevalence rate of 11.1 percent. Very low food security, the more severe form of food insecurity in which normal eating patterns were disrupted and the food intake of some household members was reduced, was also higher for households that included adults with disabilities. In 2023, the prevalence of very low food security for households that included adults not in the labor force because of a disability was more than four times that of households without an adult with disabilities (16.4 percent compared with 3.4 percent of households). Households that include adults ages 18–64 with a disability, but not out of the labor force because of the disability, also experienced higher prevalence rates of very low food insecurity at 13.5 percent. This chart appears in USDA, Economic Research Service’s Interactive Charts and Highlights page.
Thursday, November 7, 2024
In 2023, U.S. consumers spent an average of 11.2 percent of their disposable personal income on food, consistent with the level observed in 2022. Disposable personal income is the amount of money that U.S. consumers have left to spend or save after paying taxes. Consumer preferences between food-at-home and food-away-from-home spending shifted over time and have returned to trends observed before the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Specifically, 5.3 percent of disposable personal income was spent on food at home, down from 5.6 percent in 2022. Conversely, expenditures on food away from home rose to 5.9 percent from 5.6 percent the previous year. This shows a growing consumer preference for dining out and buying prepared meals. Several factors may contribute to this shift, including lifestyle changes that emerged after the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, more desire for convenience in meal options, and an increase in disposable personal income, which rose by 8.1 percent in 2023. An increase in disposable personal income provides consumers with greater financial flexibility, allowing more dining experiences outside the home. The chart is drawn from USDA, Economic Research Service’s Food Expenditure Series data product, Ag and Food Statistics: Charting the Essentials, the recently updated Interactive Charts: Food Expenditures and the Amber Waves article U.S. Consumers Increased Spending on Food Away From Home in 2023, Driving Overall Food Spending Growth.
Wednesday, November 6, 2024
The 2022 Census of Agriculture shows that around 84,000 farms operated by a producer with military service engage in cattle farming (29 percent), making it the most common commodity specialization among those with military service. It is followed closely by “other crop farming” with 79,000 operations (27 percent). “Other animal production” ranks third with approximately 59,000 farms, while operations specializing in “oilseed and grain” and “specialty crops” are less common, with around 37,000 and 30,000 farms respectively. In 2022, there were 289,372 farms operated by at least one producer with current or prior military service, which represents about 15 percent of all farm operations. These farms were mostly small, with an average farm size of 373 acres, compared with the overall U.S. average farm size of 463 acres. Information about farm businesses can be found in the USDA, Economic Research Service report America’s Farms and Ranches at a Glance, 2023 edition.
Tuesday, November 5, 2024
Farming activities in the United States accounted for 10.5 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2022. From 2021 to 2022, agricultural greenhouse gas emissions decreased from 681.6 to 663.6 million metric tons (MMT) of carbon dioxide equivalent and decreased from 10.8 percent to 10.5 percent as a share of the entire U.S. economy’s emissions. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimated that in 2022, agriculture emitted 309.1 MMT directly as nitrous oxide (N2O), 277.0 MMT directly as methane (CH4), 47.9 MMT directly as on-farm carbon dioxide (CO2), and indirectly emitted 29.7 MMT through electricity the agricultural sector uses. Agricultural practices that emit nitrous oxide include nitrogen fertilizer application and manure management. Major sources of agricultural methane emissions include enteric fermentation, manure management, and rice cultivation. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has identified the industrial sector as the largest sectoral contributor to total greenhouse gas emissions (29.5 percent), followed by transportation, commercial, residential, agriculture, and U.S. territories (listed as a group because no specific consumption data can be attributed within the territories). Total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2022 were 0.2 percent greater than they were in 2021. This chart appears in the USDA, Economic Research Service topic page Climate Change.
Monday, November 4, 2024
In marketing year 2024/25, USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service reported that U.S. farmers planted record-low sunflower acreage, nearly half of what was planted in the previous year. The largest decline in acreage occurred for the type of sunflower that is grown mainly to produce oil and is also used in bird food. On average, oil-type sunflower acreage accounts for nearly 90 percent of total sunflower acreage, whereas in 2024/25 it is forecast to account for 83 percent. Most of the decline in acreage occurred in the top two producing States, North Dakota and South Dakota. This decline is attributed to lower profitability compared with other oilseed crops, such as canola and soybeans. Sunflower stocks at the end of 2023/24 were the highest since 2016/17, contributing to the lowest average farm price since 2019/20. In addition, expansion in canola and soybean processing facilities in North Dakota created new domestic demand for those oilseeds, supporting expansion in acreage of canola and soybeans at the loss of sunflower acres. While the planted acreage is at a record low, yields in 2024/25 are forecast at a record high because of peak growing conditions in the Dakotas. Still, total sunflower production in 2024/25 is forecast at 1.3 billion pounds, the lowest since 1976/77. This chart is drawn from USDA, Economic Research Service’s Oil Crops Outlook, October 2024.
Thursday, October 31, 2024
Over time, the quality of agricultural pesticides has improved. Modern pesticides (which include herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides) have higher potency, persistence, toxicity, and absorption rates compared with products available in the past. Researchers with USDA, Economic Research Service (ERS) track the quantities of pesticides used in agriculture production and adjust them for quality changes as part of calculating the productivity of the industry. Using 1948 as a starting point, the quantities of quality-adjusted and non-adjusted pesticides used were 15 times and 8 times, respectively, their 1948 levels. Pesticide use over time has increased partially because of a relative fall in pesticide prices compared to other inputs that prompted producers to increase pesticide use, and a change in the mix of crops, particularly the substantial increase in corn and soybean acreage that require more pesticides. Other factors that have driven fluctuations in pesticide use include the widespread use of genetically engineered crops that are insect-resistant and herbicide-tolerant; the eradication of the boll weevil, which helped reduce pesticide use in cotton-growing areas; and increased awareness of environmental impacts of pesticide use. For more on U.S. agricultural productivity trends, see the ERS topic page Agricultural Research and Productivity and the ERS data product Agricultural Productivity in the U.S. This chart updates one found in the ERS report Measurement of Output, Inputs, and Total Factor Productivity in U.S. Agricultural Productivity Accounts, published in August 2024.
Wednesday, October 30, 2024
In 2023, more than half of all food-insecure households in the United States had one or more adult members employed full time. USDA, Economic Research Service (ERS) monitors the prevalence of U.S. household food insecurity through an annual survey and provides information about the characteristics of food-insecure households, including their employment status. The employment status for each household is measured using the combined employment status of all adult household members. Households are placed into mutually exclusive employment categories based on the employment status of the adult most attached to the labor market. In 2023, households with adults employed full time made up the largest share of food-insecure households at 56 percent, a share that has remained stable since 2017. Households with one or more adults employed part time because it was the only job available (called part time for economic reasons) comprised the smallest share of food-insecure households at 2 percent. Households with unemployed adults looking for work also made up a small share of the food-insecure population at 3.5 percent. The remaining food-insecure households had one or more adults who were retired, disabled, employed part time for noneconomic reasons, or not in the labor force. An interactive visualization and the underlying downloadable data for prevalence, severity (low and very low food security), and distribution of food insecurity by household employment status can be found on the ERS Interactive Charts and Highlights page.
Tuesday, October 29, 2024
Since 2019, the Cuban economy has struggled to export enough goods and services to finance imports. This has made it difficult for Cuba to afford the importation of not only agricultural commodities like rice, corn, and wheat, but also agricultural inputs that would help to bolster domestic crop production, such as fertilizers, herbicides, and farm machinery. Moreover, a succession of tropical storms and other adverse weather conditions have presented additional challenges to Cuba’s farmers. The impact of these conditions is apparent in Cuba’s declining staple crop production, which has contributed to lower consumption of these commodities. Production of both rice and corn in Cuba has trended downward since marketing year 2016/17 according to USDA estimates, while imports, largely from South America and East Asia, have tempered the accompanying reduction in consumption. Cuba relies almost entirely on imports for the wheat used to make flour and bread, and these imports—along with consumption—have declined over the past decade, as reflected in decreased rations of bread from the Cuban Government. In contrast to declining staple crop consumption, chicken consumption in Cuba has trended modestly higher, largely because of increased poultry imports, in part from the United States. In 2023, chicken meat accounted for about 82 percent of U.S. agricultural exports to Cuba. This chart also appears in the USDA, Economic Research Service report, Cuba’s Deteriorating Food Security and Its Implications for U.S. Agricultural Exports.
Monday, October 28, 2024
About 40 percent of U.S. farmers worked 200 or more days off the farm in 2022, according to the 2022 Census of Agriculture. The majority—93.2 percent—of the 3,078 U.S. counties for which data were reported had at least 30 percent of producers working 200 days or more off the farm. Further, 83 counties (2.7 percent) had at least 50 percent of producers working off farm 200 days or more. Counties with relatively few producers working 200 days or more off farm were scattered across the country, with many in remote areas of the western United States, and several located in metro areas. The majority of U.S. farm operations have more than one producer engaged in decisions or duties related to the farm business, which would increase the time available for off-farm work for any single producer. For farms with two producers, 41 percent of producers worked off farm 200 days or more, with a similar portion of producers on farms with either three or four producers doing so. In comparison, 35 percent of producers on farms with only one producer did so. Off-farm work is a significant source of income for most farm households and can additionally provide health and retirement benefits. According to Agricultural Resource Management Survey data, more than half of family farms did not turn a profit in 2022, and 84 percent of farm households earned at least half their total income from off-farm sources. For more details from the 2022 Census of Agriculture, see the USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service’s Census of Agriculture website. Information on producers and households can be found on the USDA, Economic Research Service’s topic page Farm Household Well-being.
Thursday, October 24, 2024
Pumpkins are native to the Americas, and their cultivation has been dated back to 7,000 BCE in what is now Mexico. Today, pumpkins are grown commercially in every U.S. State, with uses ranging from cooking and baking to decorating and carving jack-o’-lanterns. Farm prices received can vary widely by State because of the type of pumpkins being grown and their intended use. About 85 percent of U.S. pumpkin acres harvested go to the fresh market, mostly for decorative purposes. The remaining 15 percent go to the processing market, which are used in food products, such as pumpkin puree, and are priced lower than decorative pumpkins. In Illinois, about 70 percent of pumpkin acres are harvested for processing. This means that Illinois growers consistently received the lowest prices, averaging $40 per 1,000 pounds of pumpkins during 2021 to 2023. In contrast, Washington growers consistently received the highest prices for their predominantly decorative pumpkins, averaging $355 per 1,000 pounds during 2021 to 2023. In 2023, prices in other top pumpkin-producing States averaged between $177 and $203 per 1,000 pounds of pumpkins, most of which were used for decorative purposes. This chart is drawn from USDA, Economic Research Service’s Trending Topics page, Pumpkins: Background & Statistics.
Wednesday, October 23, 2024
The latest USDA Census of Agriculture data show that just under 55 million acres of cropland in the contiguous United States were irrigated in 2022. This was the lowest level since 1992 and a decrease of roughly 3 million acres from the last census in 2017, when irrigated cropland reached a record high 58 million acres. The decline was driven largely by decreases of 1.8 million acres (14 percent) in the Mountain region, 0.9 million acres (7 percent) in the Northern Plains, and 0.7 million acres (15 percent) in the Southern Plains. During 2022, these regions experienced severe, widespread drought conditions and other factors, such as restricted water supplies throughout the western United States, which broadly affected irrigated acreage. Despite having the largest decrease, the Mountain region still contains the most irrigated acreage at 11.4 million acres in 2022. About 18 percent of U.S. cropland is irrigated. For more information on the 2022 Census of Agriculture, see USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service’s website. This chart is drawn from the USDA, Economic Research Service (ERS) report Major Uses of Land in the United States, 2017 with updates from the 2022 Census of Agriculture data. For more information on trends in U.S. irrigated agriculture, see the ERS topic page Irrigation and Water Use.
Tuesday, October 22, 2024
Labor is essential to the production, processing, marketing, and transportation of products from farm to port. USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) annually measures this labor using an agricultural trade multiplier that estimates the employment and output effects of trade in farm and food products on the U.S. economy. In 2022, U.S. agricultural exports including biodiesel were valued at $197.4 billion and supported 1.25 million full-time jobs. On average, every $1 billion of exported U.S. agricultural products supported 6,338 jobs. Ten agricultural commodity exports supported 745,200 of the 1.25 million jobs—just under 60 percent. Soybean and corn exports alone supported more than 364,000 jobs, and bovine, chicken, and swine meat exports supported about 185,000 jobs. This chart is drawn from the ERS Agricultural Trade Multipliers, released May 2024.
Monday, October 21, 2024
USDA’s Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) covered about 22.9 million acres of environmentally sensitive land at the end of fiscal year 2023, with an annual budget of roughly $1.8 billion. This made CRP the largest single USDA conservation program in terms of spending that year. Through CRP, enrollees receive annual and other incentive payments for taking eligible, environmentally sensitive land out of production for 10 to 15 years. Program acreage tends to be concentrated on marginally productive cropland that is susceptible to erosion by wind or rainfall. The program is administered by the Farm Service Agency with a goal of re-establishing valuable land cover, which helps improve water quality, prevent soil erosion, and reduce loss of wildlife habitat. A large share of land is enrolled in CRP from Texas to Montana and North Dakota across the Great Plains, where rainfall is limited and much of the land is subject to potentially severe wind erosion. Smaller concentrations of CRP land are found in eastern Washington; southern Iowa; northern Missouri; along the Mississippi River in Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi; southeastern Idaho; and northwestern Utah. This map is found in the USDA, Economic Research Service data product Ag and Food Statistics: Charting the Essentials.
Thursday, October 17, 2024
In 2022, there were 42,708 food and beverage manufacturing establishments in the United States, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census's County Business Patterns. Food and beverage manufacturing establishments turn raw food commodities into products for intermediate or final consumption. Food and beverage processing establishments are located throughout the United States, but California had the most such establishments at 6,569, or 15 percent of the total. Texas (2,898) and New York (2,748) were the second- and third-leading food and beverage manufacturing States. California led the Nation for every category of food and beverage manufacturing establishments except “animal slaughtering and processing,” for which Texas had 288 establishments, and “seafood processing and packaging,” for which Alaska had 86 establishments. The number of manufacturing establishments for other industry segments are also reported in County Business Patterns. This chart appears on the USDA, Economic Research Service’s Food and Beverage Manufacturing topic page.
Wednesday, October 16, 2024
Global food demand is projected to increase 2.8 percent annually over the next 10 years, according to the latest International Food Security Assessment (IFSA) from USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS). The region with the highest projected growth in demand is Sub-Saharan Africa at 3.9 percent per year. In comparison, the Latin America and the Caribbean region is projected to have the slowest food demand growth of IFSA regions at 1.8 percent per year. Using food price, income, and population projections, IFSA estimates food demand in 83 low- and middle-income countries. In those 83 countries, demand is projected to grow from 800.2 million metric tons in 2024 to 1,050.9 million metric tons in 2034. Growth in food demand can be caused by two factors—increasing per capita food consumption and population growth. In all regions except for Sub-Saharan Africa, growth in total food demand is driven mainly by per capita food consumption rather than population growth. For the Former Soviet Union region, 95 percent of the overall food demand growth in the next 10 years is attributable to growth in per capita food consumption based on projections for significant growth in per capita income. In addition to annual food demand growth in Sub-Saharan Africa rising the fastest over the next 10 years, 66 percent of the growth rate in food demand in the region is due to population growth. With per capita incomes in Sub-Saharan Africa projected to only rise 1.5 percent annually by 2034, the region’s share of the food-insecure population is projected to increase. This chart appears in the ERS report, International Food Security Assessment, 2024-34, released August 2024. See also this related Chart of Note, Despite global improvements in food insecurity, progress for Sub-Saharan Africa lags.