overview
USDA's domestic food assistance programs affect the daily lives of millions
of people. About 1 in 5 Americans is estimated to participate in at least
1 of 15 food assistance programs at some point during the year. Expenditures
for USDA's 15 food assistance programs increased 9.4 percent in fiscal year
2003 to $41.6 billion. This exceeded the previous historical record of $38.1
billion that was spent on food assistance in fiscal 1996. Most USDA food
assistance is provided by the Food Stamp
Program, the Special Supplemental Nutrition
Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), and the child
nutrition programs. The Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Program
(FANRP) of ERS studies
and evaluates these food assistance programs within numerous topic areas,
including program outcomes, program
operations and integrity, vulnerable
populations, the relationship between food
assistance programs and the general economy, and
food security in the United States.
contents
features
 FANRP 2004 Awards—FANRP's Competitive Grants and Cooperative Agreements Program made awards in fiscal 2004 to fund research on Program Design and Operations, Food Assistance as a Safety Net, and Obesity, Diet Quality, and Health. A press release, descriptions of the projects and awards from previous years are also available.
Issues in Food Assistance—The Issues in Food Assistance series, part of ERS's Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Program, addresses a variety of topics related to the USDA food assistance programs. Issues briefs currently available cover changes in the Child and Adult Care Food Program, food insecurity, and the standard deduction in the food stamp benefit formula. Upcoming briefs will cover such topics as low-income rural Americans, private food aid (food pantries, food kitchens, etc.), low-income families, unemployment, the U.S. economy, and self-sufficiency among former food assistance receivers.
 The
Food Assistance Landscape—This periodical provides a brief overview
of USDA's domestic food assistance programs. Each issue contains recent
program statistics, such as expenditure, participation, and benefit levels,
as well as information on related economic and social indicators, such
as unemployment rates, income growth, and food price inflation. The report
also discusses recent ERS research related to food assistance.
recommended readings
 ERS's
magazine, Amber Waves, has several articles
on food assistance topics, including dynamics
of food insufficiency, design
and administration of USDA's food assistance programs, emergency
food providers, food
security in the United States, how much food
stamps reduce child poverty, the economic consequences of changing
food stamps to cash, and balancing
food costs with nutrition goals in WIC.
The WIC Program: Background, Trends,
and Issues—Almost half of all infants and about one-quarter of
all children 1-4 years of age in the United States now participate in
the WIC program. WIC accounts for almost 12 percent of total Federal spending
on food and nutrition assistance. This report describes the program—how
it works, its history, program trends, characteristics of the population
it serves, and issues related to program outcomes and administration.
The Summer 2002
issue of Focus features papers from a conference sponsored
by ERS and the Institute for Research on Poverty. Papers include the conference's
title essay, "Income volatility and the implications for food assistance
programs," "The
role of food stamps in stabilizing income and consumption," "Short
recertification periods in the U.S. Food Stamp Program," "Food
stamps and the elderly: Why is participation so low?" and "WIC
Eligibility and Participation."
See
all recommended readings…
recommended data products
National data useful
in food and nutrition assistance research—Brief descriptions
of national surveys and data sets with links to the sponsoring organizations.
Current Population Survey (CPS) Food
Security Supplement data—Annual data on food expenditures, food
security, hunger, and use of food assistance programs and other strategies
for coping with or ameliorating food deprivation.
Survey of Program Dynamics (SPD), 1998
Food Security Status file, data, and technical documentation—The
SPD is a special extension of the Survey of Income and Program Participation
that is designed to inform research on the effects of welfare reform.
ERS prepared the food security status file to facilitate analysis of food
security in households interviewed in the SPD, to which the file can be
matched.
 Food Stamp Program Map Machine—The Food Stamp Program (FSP) Map Machine is an interactive web-based mapping utility that illustrates program participation and benefit levels down to the county level. Use the map machine to show per capita participation, per capita benefits, changes from year to year, and more. The map's tools allow you to call up tabular data for the county, State, or Nation. For example, select a State, zoom into a specific county, and display the data for that county by using the identify tool. Or, zoom into a region of the United States and display a map showing how rapidly program participation changed in each county between 1993 and 1997.
 recent
research developments
Food Assistance
and Nutrition Research Program, Final Report: Fiscal 2003 Activities—Provides
an overview of FANRP's research themes, principles, and activities and
describes the objectives of individual research projects. A list of FANRP's
Competitive Grants and Cooperative Agreements Program awards
in fiscal 2003 and project
descriptions are also available.
FANRP
Awards—FANRP's Competitive Grants and Cooperative Agreements
Program has made awards each year, beginning in 1998. Lists of all awards
and descriptions of funded projects are available.
newsletters
Sign Up Now—Keep current on activities in the Food Assistance and
Nutrition Research Program (FANRP) by subscribing to our free e-mail notification
service. You will receive announcements of our latest reports and other
news. You can also get the latest on other activities at ERS. To become
a subscriber, please submit this short application
form. Be sure to check "Food & Nutrition Assistance Programs"
under Particular Topic Areas to receive information about FANRP activities.
related links
Food and Nutrition Information
Center (FNIC)—One of several information centers at USDA's National
Agricultural Library. Access all of FNIC's resource lists and databases,
as well as many other food- and nutrition-related links.
Five
administering institutions for the Small Grants Program—The universities
and their associated research institutions that administer the FANRP Small
Grants Program.
Food and Nutrition Service—Administers
USDA's food assistance programs and provides program guidelines, data,
and research on the Food Stamp
Program, WIC, and child
nutrition programs.
Office of the Assistant
Secretary for Planning & Evaluation (ASPE)—A web site on "leavers"
and diversion studies, plus other studies of welfare outcomes.
images gallery
Food and nutrition
assistance programs at a glance—Charts, tables, and data on food
stamps, WIC, child nutrition programs, and more.
for more information, contact:
Victor Oliveira
web administration: webadmin@ers.usda.gov
page updated:
October 14, 2004
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