ers

This Saturday is National Nut Day, a perfect opportunity to honor nature’s nutritional dynamo– the nut.  It seems that Americans are more than a little nutty about nuts, which are considered specialty crops.  Nearly one out of every 10 of us eats nuts, or a nut product, at least once a day.  Almonds, walnuts and pecans are the top three nuts consumed in the United States* and the production of almonds, walnuts and pistachios has more than doubled in the last decade.

How worried should Charlie Brown be? Is there any truth to what some are calling the Great Pumpkin Shortage?

After Hurricane Irene pummeled and soaked the Northeast, the media began reporting that damage to the pumpkin crop portended a general shortage of pumpkins for the Halloween season and beyond. Heavy rains in the spring caused some farmers to plant later than usual, and some areas experienced hot, dry weather during the summer months, further fueling concerns about this year’s harvest.

Ever wonder exactly how many Americans struggle to put food on table?  It’s a question pondered more and more during a tough economy.  Today, the USDA Economic Research Service (ERS) has shed some light on these conditions with their annual analysis of Americans’ success in feeding themselves and their families.

The report, Household Food Security in the United States in 2010, provides an important analysis of how well people are faring on this front during difficult economic times.

In 2010, just over 85 percent of American households were food secure throughout the entire year.  However, about 17.2 million households were unable, at some point in the year, to provide either enough food or adequate food for at least one member due to a lack of resources.  That equates to nearly 49 million people in the United States – roughly one in six – who lived in a food insecure household in 2010.

This year, USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) celebrates its 50^th anniversary. ERS was established on April 3, 1961 during the Kennedy Administration, when USDA combined the Department’s economic research functions into one agency. The functions of our predecessor agency, the Bureau of Agricultural Economics (BAE, dating from 1922), had been dispersed in 1953 to other USDA offices, and many former BAE economists found a home in the new ERS.

This week, ERS is marking the occasion with a day-long symposium in USDA’s Jefferson Auditorium, featuring speakers from government and the research community who will focus on the agency’s contributions to public policy and the social sciences. USDA employees and the public are invited to the symposium.

Cross posted from the Let's Move! blog:

Ensuring that Americans eat well and lead healthy lives is among our greatest goals at USDA.  First Lady Michelle Obama, of course, has taken an important role on this front – leading a national conversation and administration-wide effort.  As part of the Lets Move! initiative USDA is taking on the challenge of food deserts.  These nutritional wastelands exist across America in both urban and rural communities where parents and children simply do not have access to a supermarket.

Much of my work as a sociologist at the Economic Research Service (ERS) involves research on the food security of U.S. households – their ability to consistently obtain adequate food. My colleagues and I were naturally concerned about how the economic downturn that began in late 2007 would affect the food security of economically vulnerable households. It was no surprise that from 2007 to the end of 2008, households’ food insecurity increased in tandem with rising unemployment.

Today, the Economic Research Service (ERS) posted a new and innovative interactive mapping tool that makes it easy to visualize and compare rural economic and social conditions among counties, states, and regions. By creating county-level maps of the United States,  users can see how socioeconomic conditions vary across the United States, or within a state.

As the Economic Research Service celebrates its 50^th Anniversary this year and looks back over the decades, the legacy of Senior Demographer Calvin Beale stands out due to the 55-plus-year length of his service at USDA and the impact of his work.

USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) will kick off its 50^th anniversary celebration with a special session at the Agricultural Outlook Forum this month.  The session will highlight ERS’ role as a resource for policymakers and for those advancing debates in the areas of food economics, rural development and natural resources, and markets and trade. In addition, the expert panel will share their thoughts on what questions will shape ERS research in the years to come. 

As American Agriculture moves into a new century, producers are working to reduce greenhouse gases and nutrient runoff from their operations.  It is even better if, while doing so, they also develop a new revenue stream.  Anaerobic digesters deliver on that objective and also contribute to Obama Administration’s commitment to promote renewable energy and green technology. Deploying anaerobic digesters is not only good for the environment, and for the Nation’s energy outlook, it signifies renewed efforts to invest in America, part of the President’s strategy to “Win the future.”