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These items have been featured on the front page of the ERS web site.
 | ag biotech patents Agricultural Biotechnology Intellectual Property Database (Featured 8/26/04 - 10/14/04) |
 | peanut policy change Peanut sector adjusts following elimination of the marketing quota system (Featured 7/16/04 - 10/13/04) |
 | conservation compliance Reducing soil erosion is one of the major goals of U.S. agri-environmental policy, and Conservation Compliance is a primary tool for achieving this aim. (Featured 6/9/04 - 10/7/04) |
 | grain-based foods workshop Exploring consumption trends and data sources (Featured 8/13/04 - 9/28/04) |
 | farm policy, farm households, and the rural economy Existing U.S. farm programs have their origins in the 1930s, a period when the well being of U.S. farm households and rural communities were tightly linked. Although farms, farm households, and rural communities at the beginning of the 21st century are vastly different, commodity-based support programs continue to play a central role in U.S. agricultural policy. This raises questions about whether current policies most effectively target the needs of an evolving farm and rural economy. (Featured 7/16/04 - 8/25/04) |
 | hispanics in rural america Analyzing social and economic consequences of rural Hispanic growth. (Featured 7/13/04 - 8/13/04) |
 | traceability in the u.s. food supply A search for the birthplace of the cows whose meat went into a particular pound of hamburger or for the farms that grew the wheat used in a box of cereal may seem like looking for a needle in a haystack. But U.S. ranchers, farmers, food manufacturers, and distributors have a number of incentives to keep records tracking food production and distribution. These records provide information on the flow of food and food products throughout the U.S. food supply system and aid in tracking food to its source. (Featured 3/18/04 - 8/10/04) |
 | soybean rust economic assessment Soybean rust reduces yields and raises production costs for soybeans in every major production region of the world except the United States. But the recent and rapid spread of the pathogen in South America raises the prospect of its windborne entry into the U.S. as well, with a range of potential economic and policy implications. (Featured 4/23/04 - 8/2/04) |
 | The European Union Expands On May 1, 2004, 10 countries will join the European Union (EU)—eight of the formerly Communist Central and East European (CEE) countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia) plus Cyprus and Malta. This is the largest expansion in the history of the EU and will bring profound changes to Europe. (Featured 4/22/04 - 7/19/04) |
 | time use conference Analyzing the time use choices and constraints that individuals face. (Featured 6/7/04 - 7/13/04) |
 | agricultural policy workshop Assessing farm program impacts on farm households and rural communities. (Featured 4/22/04 - 6/16/04) |
 | soybean price forecasting South American soybean production, combined with the U.S. soybean stocks-to-use ratio, provides a strong basis for forecasting U.S. soybean prices. South American soybean production accounts for much of the global structural change that has altered the relationships among U.S. soybean production, use, stocks, and price. The article estimates that a 1-percent increase in South American soybean production decreases U.S. soybean prices by about one-quarter percent. (Featured 4/13/04 - 5/11/04) |
 | 2004-13 agricultural baseline projections Each year, USDA makes 10-year economic projections of the food and agriculture sector. The commodity projections are used to forecast farm program costs and to prepare the President's budget. The projections reflect a set of assumptions regarding macroeconomic developments and farm policies, and cover major agricultural commodities, agricultural trade, and aggregate indicators of the U.S. farm sector, such as farm income and food prices. One key use of the projections is as a "baseline" from which to analyze the impacts of potential policy changes affecting U.S. agriculture. (Featured 2/5/04 - 4/27/04) |
 | domestic food assistance programs Proposals are now being accepted for the Competitive Grants and Cooperative Agreements Program through ERS’s Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Program (FANRP). (Featured 3/19/04 - 4/22/04) |
 | U.S.-EU Food and Agriculture Comparisons This report provides information and analysis on a wide range of topics relating to agriculture in the United States and European Union (EU), including comparisons of farm structure, production, agricultural productivity, risk management, environmental, commodity policy, trade, and food consumption, as well as implications of EU enlargement for bilateral relations. (Featured 2/27/04 - 4/22/04) |
 | 2003 Farm Income After establishing historic high levels in 2003, net value added and net farm income are forecast to be lower in 2004... (Featured 2/6/04 - 4/14/04) |
 | Invasive Species Management ERS initiated a new program of work in fiscal year 2003 to examine the economic issues related to managing invasive pests in increasingly global agricultural markets. The ERS program focuses on national decisionmaking concerning invasive species of agricultural significance or affecting, or affected by, USDA programs. (Featured 2/9/04 - 3/19/04) |
 | country-of-origin labeling Costs likely exceed benefits for mandatory country-of-origin labels. (Featured 2/2/04 - 3/18/04) |
 | Rural Education at a Glance This six-page report, drawing on the 2000 Census and other Federal sources, is packed with key facts on rural education levels, including demographic and occupational information. (Featured 2/10/04 - 2/20/04) |
 | market context for BSE The December 2003 announcement that a dairy cow in Washington State tested positive for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, or “mad cow" disease) has focused attention on beef and cattle markets and on U.S. government actions. The incident has also underscored the importance of reliable information and analysis. USDA is providing updates on the evolving situation, including measures taken by the government and information on technical aspects. ERS monitors and analyzes cattle markets, the beef industry, food safety, and trade, providing background information and research for perspective on recent events. (Featured 1/12/04 - 2/13/04) |
 | The 2004 Food Assistance Research Conference: Recent Findings and Emerging Issues This year's conference was held March 3 and 4 at the Economic Research Service, Washington, DC. Session topics included child nutrition, WIC, and the Food Stamp Program. This is the final agenda. (Featured 1/13/04 - 2/10/04) |
 | agricultural resources and environmental indicators (AREI) database and mapping tool Now you can map and extract data behind statistics in AREI and other ERS publications! The AREI Database and Mapping Tool provides maximum flexibility in data access with the latest, on-the-fly, geographic information system (GIS) mapping and database retrieval technologies. This site is a work in progress. It is intended to eventually serve as one-stop access to both primary source and value-added data used to generate summaries, statistics, and graphics in a broad range of ERS publications on agricultural resources and environmental indicators. This initial version is made available with one data source and a limited number of options. (Featured 12/4/03 - 1/30/04) |
 | Agricultural Outlook Forum 2004 The Agricultural Outlook Forum provides the agricultural community with timely forecasts of farm prospects and insight into developments affecting the farm economy. Speakers will include top government officials, industry analysts, farmers, business leaders, and academic experts. Join the more than 1,300 people who attend this annual event. Network with attendees from all facets of US and world agriculture and the food and fiber industry. (Featured 12/4/03 - 1/7/04) |
 | Population Change and Rural Society Conference Thursday and Friday, January 29-30, 2004 This conference will showcase an integrated set of social demographic studies, conducted by leading social scientists, that analyze critical demographic trends and draw conclusions about their implications for economic and social life in rural America. The research is the outcome of 2 years of planning by the Cooperative State, Research, Education, and Extension Service's (CSREES) Committee on Population Change in Rural Communities. (Featured 12/31/03 - 1/3/04) |
 | About Our New Look We've spent quite a bit of time over the past months listening to our users to find out how to improve. We hope that our changes, the latest in a series of incremental enhancements, will make it easier to see what ERS offers and easier to get to the wealth of our products and services. (Featured 12/8/03 - 12/31/03) |
 | 2003 FANRP Small Grants Conference The 2003 Small Grants Conference was held November 20 and 21, 2003 at the Economic Research Service, Washington, DC. Session topics included Food Assistance and Child Well-Being, Food Insecurity and Hunger, Dynamics of Program Participation and Food Insecurity, and Obesity. (Featured 11/1/03 - 11/22/03) |
 | Amber Waves - September 2003 Vegetables, NAFTA, meat, overweight, food insufficiency, EQIP, conservation, agricultural resources, college graduates, rural indicators, tobacco, trade agreements, rural poverty, production costs, WIC, food assistance (Featured 9/15/03 - 11/7/03) |
 | FANRP 2003 Awards Under the Food and Nutrition Assistance Program, USDA made awards of $1.3 million in grants and cooperative assistance. The awards will fund research on program design and operations, food Assistance as a safety net, and obesity, diet quality, and health. (Featured 10/17/03 - 11/3/03) |
 | wto: current issues The ERS World Trade Organization Briefing Room has been updated to reflect events during the current round of negotiations (the Doha Development Agenda), and to address issues that are moving to the forefront, such as subsidies and countervailing measures and various technical barriers to trade. (Featured 10/17/03 - 10/31/03) |
 | got data?... find it quickly use it easily! A new, improved page showcases the scope and breadth of data available from ERS in an easy-to-navigate format. An indicators section gives key facts and figures; a calendar of releases lets you know what will become available when. A resource area provides easy access to plugins and readers for working with data, as well as mapping programs, the archive collection, Information Quality Guidelines, and a sign-up for notifications of new releases. Get quick access to the most popular and featured ERS data products. (Featured 10/3/03 - 10/20/03) |
 | rural america at a glance A six-page brochure highlights the most recent indicators of social and economic conditions in rural areas for use in developing policies and programs to assist rural areas. This brochure is the second in a series of reports that uses current social and economic data to highlight important population,labor market, income, and poverty trends in rural areas. The new metropolitan/nonmetropolitan classification is also discussed. (Featured 9/2/03 - 10/3/03) |
 | consumer-driven agriculture America’s appetite, like its population, is always changing. Dining out, once thought to be a luxury, is now common. The Nation’s population is wealthier, older, more educated, and more ethnically diverse than in the past—and those demographic changes are likely to become more pronounced in the next 20 years. Recent research by ERS projects how these trends will influence food consumption and expenditures through 2020. (Featured 7/21/03 - 9/10/03) |
 | agricultural trade conference The September conference will bring together policymakers, industry representatives, consumer advocates, and economists—from the United States and abroad—to address the ongoing and emerging global trade policy developments. Conference participants will have opportunity for comments and questions in the panel sessions. (Featured 7/16/03 - 8/21/03) |
 | manure management for water quality improvement Agricultural pollution (such as sediment and nutrient runoff) is a prime contributor to the nation’s water quality problems. ERS routinely surveys producers’ choices of water, nutrient, pest, and soil management practices to address such problems. Especially important is work on the water quality effects of animal waste from confined feeding operations that have grown larger and more geographically concentrated in recent years. (Featured 6/20/03 - 7/21/03) |
 | wto agricultural trade policy commitments database At the conclusion of the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations in 1995, members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) established a broad set of rules and disciplines in the Agreement on Agriculture, governing three key areas affecting agricultural trade policy: domestic support, export subsidies, and market access. This database contains data on implementation of commitments in agricultural policy by WTO members. (Featured 6/23/03 - 7/17/03) |
 | U.S. organic farming U.S. farmland managed under organic farming systems expanded rapidly throughout the 1990s, and that pace has continued as farmers strive to meet consumer demand in both local and national markets. An increasing number of U.S. farmers are adopting these systems in order to lower input costs, conserve nonrenewable resources, capture high-value markets, and boost farm income. This report updates USDA estimates of land farmed with organic practices during 1997 with estimates for 2000 and 2001, and provides new estimates on the number of certified organic operations in each State. AIB-780 (4/03). (Featured 4/11/03 - 4/30/03) |
 | Amber Waves February 2003 Amber Waves is a new magazine from ERS covering the full range of the agency's research and analysis, including the economics of agriculture, food, rural America, trade, and the environment. Amber Waves replaces Agricultural Outlook, FoodReview, and Rural America. ERS publishes the magazine five times a year (in February, April, June, September, and November) both in print and on the Internet. (Featured 2/28/03 - 4/24/03) |
 | FANRP's Competitive Grants and Cooperative Agreements Program Proposals are now being accepted for FANRP's Competitive Grants and Cooperative Agreements Program. The publication Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Program, Competitive Grants and Cooperative Agreements Program: Description and Application Process, Fiscal 2003, describes FANRP's Priority Research Areas and application requirements. (Featured 3/13/03 - 4/11/03) |
 | Outlook for Food and Farm Markets Farmers enter the spring planting season with markets expecting an increase in total planted area of field crops, encouraged by reduced domestic supplies and higher prices compared with a year earlier. Prices for several major commodities, though, have declined from peaks last fall when the impacts of the 2002 drought were not clear. USDA will release the first survey-based acreage indication for spring-planted crops on March 31. Winter wheat seeded area for 2003 is estimated to rise 6 percent to the highest level in 5 years. (Featured 3/18/03 - 4/1/03) |
 | changing economics and structure of U.S. hog production Rapid change in the size and ownership structure of U.S. hog production has created new and varied challenges for the industry, and these changes have not come without problems. Concerns about the increasing market control and power concentrated among packers and large hog operations, and about the manure management problem posed by an increasing concentration of hog manure on fewer operations, are paramount. (Featured 2/28/03 - 3/18/03) |
 | China: water policy reforms China is one of the top 10 markets for U.S. agricultural exports and is the world's largest producer and consumer of a range of commodities. ERS maintains an active research program that investigates how policy and economic developments in China affect global agricultural markets. (Featured 2/27/03 - 3/13/03) |
 | New magazine debuts in February 2003 You've already visited our website. Now we're offering a new window into the agency's research — with a new magazine covering the economics of agriculture, food, rural America, trade, and the environment. (Featured 12/12/02 - 2/20/03) |
 | FoodReview: Weighing In on Obesity, Vol. 25, No. 3 This issue of FoodReview finds ERS researchers "weighing in" on a critical public health issue—the growing epidemic of Americans who are overweight and obese. The lead article takes a look at the American diet—typically too high in added sugars, refined grains, fats, and calories. (Featured 1/24/03 - 2/6/03) |
 | Agricultural Outlook Forum 2003 The U.S. Department of Agriculture invites you to sharpen your strategy for 2003 by attending the 79th annual agricultural outlook forum. The Forum will provide an overview of agricultural prospects and issues in a compact two-day format. Government officials, industry analysts, and farmers will assess farm prospects for the year ahead. Focus sessions will highlight major developments changing the business of agriculture. Attendees will receive new long-term commodity projections prepared by USDA. (Featured 11/21/02 - 2/4/03) |
 | 2003-12 agricultural baseline projections Each year, USDA agencies make 10-year projections of the food and agriculture sector. The commodity projections are used to forecast farm program costs and to prepare the President's budget. The projections reflect a set of assumptions and cover major agricultural commodities, agricultural trade, and aggregate indicators of the U.S. farm sector, such as farm income and food prices. One key use of the projections is as a "baseline" from which to analyze the impacts of potential policy changes affecting U.S. agriculture. (Featured 12/12/02 - 1/17/03) |
 | Measuring Rural Diversity Conference Measuring Rural Diversity Conference—November 21-22, 2002, at the Economic Research Service, Washington, DC. At the conference, researchers will present their current work on rural conditions, such as demographic changes, business trends, and local distress. (Featured 10/16/02 - 11/22/02) |
 | Retail Scanner Prices for Meat ERS' database contains monthly average retail price data for selected cuts of red meat and poultry, based on electronic supermarket scanner data. While not based on a random sample, the raw data underlying the database are from supermarkets across the United States that account for approximately 20 percent of U.S. supermarket sales. (Featured 11/5/02 - 11/10/02) |
 | FANRP research funding opportunities: fiscal 2002 awards FANRP's Competitive Grants and Cooperative Agreements Program made awards in fiscal 2002 to fund research on Program Design and Operations; Food Assistance as a Safety Net; Obesity; Eating Patterns, Diet Quality, and Health Outcomes; and Behavioral Nutrition. The program is publicly announced and competitively awarded through the use of peer review panels. (Featured 10/15/02 - 11/4/02) |
 | The Economics of Income and Wealth for Farm Households USDA's Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS) data provide an unmatched tool for analyzing policies designed to improve farm well-being. ARMS data report on both the condition of farm businesses and the farm households that operate them. ERS's new report on farm income, wealth, and well-being is the culmination of a concerted program of data collection, analysis, and publications geared toward understanding what farms and farmers earn, and how their welfare changes. The resources highlighted here are a guide to recent work in this important ERS research area. (Featured 7/29/02 - 10/16/02) |
 | 2002 Small Grants Conference 2002 Food and Nutrition Research Small Grants Program Conference—October 17-18, 2002, at the Economic Research Service, Washington, DC. The Small Grants Program seeks to stimulate new research that will inform the public debate on food assistance and nutrition policy. At the conference, grant recipients will present the results of their work on food assistance programs, food security, and nutrition. The conference is free, but space is limited. To register, fill out the registration form and return it either by FAX to Tina Terry at 202-694-5677, or by e-mail to fanrp@ers.usda.gov. If you have questions, call 202-694-5270. For details on topics and speakers, see the conference agenda. Go to the Small Grants Program for more information on the program itself. (Featured 9/13/02 - 10/10/02) |
 | 2002 Farm Bill - What's Changed? Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002, which governs Federal farm programs for the next 6 years, was signed into law on May 13, 2002. Its provisions support the production of a reliable, safe, and affordable supply of food and fiber; promote stewardship of agricultural land and water resources; facilitate access to American farm products at home and abroad; encourage continued economic and infrastructure development in rural America; and ensure continued research to maintain an efficient and innovative agricultural and food sector. (Featured 5/16/02 - 9/12/02) |
 | Transition Economies The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) had a bumper crop in 2001, leading to 9.3 million metric tons (mmt) of grain exports from Ukraine, 4 mmt from Kazakstan, and 3.2 mmt from Russia. Russia is also one of the world's largest meat importers. In 2001, Russia was the world's largest poultry importer (1,280 mmt), the second largest pork importer (550 mmt), and the third largest beef and veal importer (675 mmt). ERS research addresses the issues driving crop and livestock production trends in the CIS, and the effect of reforms (or lack thereof) on future agricultural production, consumption, and trade. (Featured 7/26/02 - 9/12/02) |
 | FoodReview: Consumer-Driven Agriculture, Vol. 25, No. 1 This issue of FoodReview projects U.S. food consumption and spending to 2020. Articles discuss how farmers, processors, retailers, and foodservice operators are responding to this changing demand for food. Two additional articles look at food assistance expenditures and household food security. (Featured 6/17/02 - 7/29/02) |
 | World Food Summit At the 1996 World Food Summit, the United States and 185 other countries committed to halving the number of undernourished people in the world by 2015. Each country agreed to develop a national plan of action and to report periodically on progress made toward this goal. On June 10-13, 2002, countries will assemble again in Rome for the "World Food Summit Five Years After" conference. They will look at the reality of chronic food insecurity and the continuing challenges to meeting the original World Food Summit goal. (Featured 6/3/02 - 7/29/02) |
 | China - The 21st century China is one of the top 10 markets for U.S. agricultural exports and is the world's largest producer and consumer of a range of commodities. ERS maintains an active research program that investigates how policy and economic developments in China affect global agricultural markets. (Featured 4/10/02 - 6/17/02) |
 | Draft Report of the Economic Research Service’s Information Quality Guidelines The U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has issued government-wide guidelines for ensuring and maximizing the quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of information disseminated by Federal agencies. Congress directed OMB to issue these guidelines in section 515 of the Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2001 (Public Law 106-554). OMB published its guidelines in the Federal Register on September 28, 2001, at 66 FR 49718-49725 and updated the guidelines on February 22, 2002, at 67 FR 8452-8460 and on March 4, 2002, at 67 FR 9797. (Featured 5/1/02 - 6/4/02) |
 | ERS research on water quality topics In 1972, Congress fortified clean water legislation in response to growing public concern over serious and widespread water pollution. The resultant Clean Water Act now safeguards our Nation's rivers, streams, lakes, and coastal areas, with a goal of fishable and swimmable waters. Its pollution control programs and wetland restoration efforts have brought about a demonstrable improvement in the quality of our water. In October 2002, the Clean Water Act turns 30 and will be up for congressional reauthorization. ERS joins the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Geological Survey, and several nongovernment sponsors in recommitting to this worthy goal. (Featured 4/1/02 - 5/15/02) |
 | FANRP’s Competitive Grants and Cooperative Agreements Program Proposals are now being accepted for FANRP’s Competitive Grants and Cooperative Agreements Program. The publication Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Program, Competitive Grants and Cooperative Agreements Program: Description and Application Process, Fiscal 2002, which is downloadable, describes FANRP’s Priority Research Areas and application requirements. More information on research funding opportunities and a downloadable Budget form ARS-455 are also available on the website. The deadline for proposals is May 17, 2002. (Featured 3/26/02 - 5/1/02) |
 | Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS) ARMS is USDA's annual, national survey of farms. It is the primary source of information about the financial condition, production practices, use of resources, and economic well-being of America's farmers and farm households. Data and analysis from ARMS answer key questions from USDA policy officials, Congress, and other decisionmakers within and outside the Federal Government about the differential impacts of alternative policies and programs across the farm sector and among farm families. ARMS also provides a rich database for researchers to understand the rapidly changing structure and characteristics of American farming. (Featured 3/4/02 - 4/11/02) |
 | USDA's projections for 2002 and for 2002-11 Unveiled farm-sector projections for 2002 and the USDA Agricultural Baseline Projections to 2011. (Featured 2/19/02 - 4/2/02) |
 | Agriculture in Brazil and Argentina This report identifies key factors underlying the agricultural productivity growth and enhanced international competitiveness of Brazil and Argentina in the past decade. (Featured 1/16/02 - 3/26/02) |
 | Rural America: Welfare Reform, Vol. 16, Issue 3 This issue of Rural America presents several articles on the impacts of welfare reform upon rural Americans. Additional articles cover farm labor, federal funds, and child poverty. (Featured 1/9/02 - 3/1/02) |
 | FoodReview: Global Food Trade, Vol. 24, No. 3 This issue of FoodReview presents a series of articles about international trade in food and food products. Two additional articles look at food supply nutrients and food marketing costs. (Featured 1/8/02 - 2/20/02) |
 | Agricultural Outlook Forum 2002 The Forum will provide an overview of agricultural prospects and issues in a compact two-day format. Government officials, industry analysts, and farmers will assess farm prospects for the year ahead. Focus sessions will highlight major developments changing the business of agriculture. Attendees will receive new long-term commodity projections prepared by USDA. (Featured 12/18/01 - 1/10/02) |
 | Agricultural R&D; And Technology Adoption Both at home and abroad, the driving force behind agricultural research agenda-setting is now growth in private sector R&D.; While the level of public funding for research has leveled off since the mid-1980s, private research expenditures, bolstered by strengthened intellectual property rights, tripled in real terms between 1960 and 1996 and continue to grow. Research priorities are also affected by the shift in focus toward the agricultural inputs supply industries particularly biotechnology. These trends influence the development of technology available to producers and the pace at which that technology is adopted. ERS is at the forefront of economic research on agricultural R&D; and its effects on the adoption of production technologies. The reports featured here add to that knowledge base. (Featured 11/8/01 - 1/8/02) |
 | FoodReview: Examining the Well-Being of Children, Vol. 24, No. 2 The theme for this issue of FoodReview is ''America's Children.'' A series of articles discuss the well-being of America's children, children's diet quality, the problem of overweight children in America, foodborne disease among children, the economics of breastfeeding, and food assistance programs that help children and their families. A special article discusses U.S. consumption of tree nuts. Another special article looks at food availability and affordability in Washington, DC. (Featured 11/8/01 - 1/8/02) |
 | food and nutrition assistance programs: FANRP FANRP's Competitive Grants and Cooperative Agreements Program made awards in fiscal 2001 to fund research on Workforce Attachment, Income Volatility, and Administrative Costs; Food Assistance as a Safety Net; Targeting High Needs Subgroups; Eating Patterns, Food Choices, and Health Outcomes; and Nutrition Education: Public and Private Returns to Education. The awards in this program are between $100,000 and $400,000. The program is publicly announced and competitively awarded through the use of peer review panels. (Featured 11/8/01 - 12/18/01) |
 | Food and Agricultural Policy Designed to take a longer term view of our Nation's agriculture & food system and offer constructive ideas to help guide future farm policy, this report examines the enormous changes faced by today's food and farm system, as well as the lessons learned from more than seven decades of food and farm policies. The report offers a set of principles to guide policy development for the future—addressing issues such as trade, a farm safety net, system infrastructure, conservation and environment, rural communities, nutrition and food assistance, and program delivery systems. (Featured 9/21/01 - 11/1/01) |
 | Urban development, land use, and agriculture Land quite literally underlies all economic activity, but nowhere more than for agriculture. Land is the primary input for crop production and grazing livestock, a source of rural amenities, and a store of value for farmland owners. Continuing a long and rich tradition of ERS research on land use and values, we present new products probing the issue of "sprawl" and its impact on farming in the city's shadow. (Featured 9/1/01 - 10/25/01) |
 | commodity policy backgrounders A series of just-released reports provide commodity-based background information on issues and topics facing producers and industry as the Congressional debate proceeds. These reports address market conditions, policy proposals, WTO considerations, and the interactions between markets and policy. (Featured 8/2/01 - 10/22/01) |
 | Manure management Livestock and poultry manure applied to farmland is a valuable source of organic nutrients, but manure nitrogen and phosphorus in excess of the farm's crop requirements can compromise water quality. Many confined animal operations are unable to use all manure nutrients produced on land under their control. This has prompted concern commensurate with the increasing concentration of animal feeding operations, which also tend to be specialized and thus have less cropland on which to apply manure. A new report, Confined Animal Production and Manure Nutrients, uses survey data to estimate the number of confined animals, the amount of manure nutrients, and the capacity of nearby land to assimilate these nutrients. (Featured 7/20/01 - 9/21/01) |
 | Global Food Consumption and Trade Higher income, urbanization, other demographic shifts, improved transportation, and consumer perceptions regarding quality and safety are changing global food consumption patterns. Shifts in food consumption have led to increased trade and changes in the composition of world agricultural trade. Given different diets, food expenditure and food budget responses to income and price changes vary between developing and developed countries. (Featured 6/29/01 - 8/2/01) |
 | Agri-Environmental Policy at the Crossroads: Guideposts on a Changing Landscape This report identifies policy tools and design features that have improved the effectiveness of current programs, and tradeoffs in designing a program of agri-environmental payments. (Featured 2/16/01 - 2/19/01) |
 | Welcome to our new home Welcome to a completely redesigned, re-engineered ERS website. Built with the most up-to-date technologies, the new website gives you easy access to a wealth of relevant information and data. The same timely, comprehensive economic analysis on agriculture, food, the environment, and rural development, is now available in a streamlined, easy-to-use format. (Featured 1/2/01 - 1/31/01) |
 | A Safety Net for Farm Households Discussions in the public arena have raised fundamental questions about the ultimate goals of farm policy and the need for establishing a safety net for farm households. This report examines four scenarios for government assistance to agriculture based on the concept of ensuring some minimum standard of living. (Featured 1/2/01 - 1/15/01) |
 | Agricultural biotechnology ERS has been monitoring the advance of agricultural biotechnology since 1991, and now collects its findings in a new briefing room devoted to the subject. (Featured 3/16/01) |
 | Agricultural Outlook - May 2001 Articles include: Soybean Plantings to Expand, Corn to Recede in 2001; Farm Credit Use Expected to Rise Slightly; Interest Rates on Farm Loans Likely to Fall Throughout 2001; Forces Shaping Global Food Demand & Agricultural Trade; Canada's Agriculture: 5 Years After the End of Transportation Subsidies; Agri-Environmental Payments: Rewarding Farmers for Environmental Performance; Moving Farmers Toward New Production Practices; Poor Winter Weather Reduces Beef Supply; U.S. Farm Policy for the 21st Century: A Diversity of Visions for the Future. (Featured 5/2/01) |
 | Agricultural Outlook, June-July 2001 China's fruits and vegetables, cattle exports from Mexico, farm policy, farm payments, farm income and policy, Northern Great Plains, crop prices, stone fruits, field crop forecast, meat supply and prices (Featured 6/5/01) |
 | E-Commerce and Agriculture Symposium Agenda for the ERS-hosted symposium on e-commerce and agriculture (Featured 5/23/01) |
| Economics of Food Labeling This report traces the economic theory behind food labeling and presents three case studies in which the government has intervened in labeling and two examples in which government intervention has been proposed. (Featured 3/2/01) | |
 | FANRP Grants Announcement (PDF file) Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Program, Fiscal 2001. Competitive Grants and Cooperative Agreements Program: Description and Application Process. (Featured 3/16/01) |
| Final organic rule governs marketing The national program, authorized under the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990, facilitates domestic marketing of organically produced fresh and processed food, and assures consumers that such products meet consistent, uniform standards. (Featured 10/21/02) |
 | Focus on Farms New ERS products examine diversity in the U.S. farm sector: income, structure, and farm families (Featured 6/1/01) |
 | Foot-and-mouth disease Official foot-and-mouth disease information from the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. (Featured 4/9/01) |
 | Issues in Food Security Includes a number of short multidisciplinary issue papers that address how food security in the United States and throughout the world is affected by issues like trade liberalization, income distribution, and natural resources. (Featured 5/2/01) |
 | Rural Amenities Public amenities provided by a rural agricultural landscape, arising from open space and farm activity, are important to many citizens and policymakers. Widespread development of farmland in some parts of the country is spawning an expanding array of farmland protection programs by county, State, and Federal governments, as well as by nonprofit organizations. (Featured 11/4/02) |
 | Rural America, Volume 15, Number 4 The rural South is examined in seven articles in this issue of the Rural America magazine. (Featured 4/17/01) |
| The Road Ahead: Agricultural Policy Reform in the WTO—Summary Report In 2000, World Trade Organization (WTO) members continued global negotiations on agricultural policy reform. To help policymakers and others realize what is at stake in the global agricultural negotiations, this report quantifies the costs of global agricultural distortions and the potential benefits of their full elimination. (Featured 3/2/01) |
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