Amber Waves

Amber Waves is a monthly publication available on the ERS website. This digital magazine highlights the complete spectrum of ERS research and insights concerning economic and policy matters connected to agriculture, food, the environment, and rural communities in America.

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Articles

Vegetables and Pulses Outlook: April 2025

2 months ago | ers.usda.gov | Wilma Davis |Catharine Weber |Helen Wakefield |Seth J. Wechsler

Discover record-setting changes in consumption, along with key trade and price trends, in the April 2025 Vegetables and Pulses Outlook. Review new 2024 per capita availability estimates, explore organic and greenhouse crop insights, and access all data in a new, more accessible Excel file.
Retail food price changes vary by U.S. metro areas not only in 2024, but also across 10-year averages | Economic Research Service

2 months ago | ers.usda.gov

Price changes for food typically vary across regions based on consumer purchasing patterns, market shifts, and inflationary trends. In 2024, food-at-home (grocery) prices in Chicago, IL; Philadelphia, PA; and San Diego, CA, each climbed 2.0 percent from the previous year, the highest increases for U.S. metro areas in that year. Denver, CO, was the only city where food-at-home prices slightly decreased, dropping by 0.2 percent. Food-at-home prices rose by 1.2 percent nationally in 2024, which was a smaller increase than in the two previous years (5.0 percent in 2023 and 11.4 percent in 2022). Over the past 10 years (2015–24), Tampa, FL, had the highest increase at 3.5 percent per year on average, followed by Honolulu, HI, and San Francisco, CA, both of which increased by 3.1 percent. In comparison, Anchorage, AK, had the smallest average increase of 2.0 percent over the 10-year period, lower than the 10-year national average of 2.6 percent. Differences in retail overhead expenses, such as labor and rent, can explain some variation among cities because retailers often pass local cost increases onto consumers in the form of higher prices. Each metro area’s inflation rate is calculated based on a representative set of foods that is unique to the area. For example, the types of fresh fruits or vegetables available and purchased by consumers can vary across areas, contributing to differences in inflation rates. This chart is drawn from a USDA, Economic Research Service data visualization, Food Price Environment: Interactive Visualization, which presents the 10-year moving average change in prices by metro area and was last updated March 25, 2025.
What happened to land rejected from the Conservation Reserve Program? An analysis of the 2016 General Signup

2 months ago | ers.usda.gov | Andrew Rosenberg |Bryan Pratt

As USDA’s largest land retirement program, the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) pays landowners a yearly rental fee to convert highly erodible or otherwise environmentally sensitive land to vegetative cover such as native grasses. The program aims to achieve environmental benefits such as improving air and water quality, providing wildlife habitat, and sequestering carbon through land-use change. Contracts typically range from 10 to 15 years.
Fruit and Tree Nuts Outlook: March 2025

Mar 27, 2025 | ers.usda.gov | Catharine Weber |Helen Wakefield |Seth J. Wechsler

This report covers basic supply, demand, price, and trade analysis for fruit and tree nuts. Commodities discussed include oranges, berries, apples, avocados, melons, pistachios, and pecans.
Agricultural Income and Finance Situation and Outlook: 2024 Edition

Mar 26, 2025 | ers.usda.gov | Carrie Litkowski |Anil Giri |Dipak Subedi |Tia M. McDonald

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and its associated economic effects had implications for U.S. farms, the households that operate them, and the value of the land being farmed. Farm operations received record-level direct Government payments in 2020 largely due to financial assistance from COVID-19-related programs. Farm households, many of which rely on off-farm employment to supplement their total household income, were susceptible to higher nonfarm unemployment rates in 2020.
Rural households accounted for nearly one-sixth of U.S. food-insecure households in 2023 | Economic Research Service

Feb 26, 2025 | ers.usda.gov

People in some areas of the United States are more likely than others to be food insecure, meaning they struggled to provide enough food for their household members within the past year. In 2023, 15.9 percent of food-insecure U.S. households were outside of metropolitan areas (rural households). The food insecurity rate for rural households was 15.4 percent, compared with 13.5 percent for all U.S. households. These data show groups that are at increased risk of food insecurity as well as the frequency of a group’s occurrence in the food-insecure population. For example, while the prevalence of food insecurity for suburban and exurban households near principal cities was 11.7 percent in 2023, this group accounted for 38.8 percent of food-insecure households. In contrast, the prevalence of food insecurity in 2023 was relatively high among households in principal cities (15.9 percent), but this group accounted for 33.2 percent of food insecure households. Data associated with this chart appear in the USDA, Economic Research Service report Household Food Security in the United States in 2023, published in September 2024.
As food price inflation slowed in 2024, inflation-adjusted food spending rebounded | Economic Research Service

Feb 24, 2025 | ers.usda.gov

Food prices increased moderately in 2023 and 2024 compared with the elevated food price inflation of 2022. Average food-at-home prices rose 5.1 percent in 2023 and 1.2 percent in 2024 compared with 11.4 percent in 2022, while food-away-from-home prices increased 7.1 percent in 2023 and 4.1 percent in 2024, compared with 7.6 in 2022. When adjusted for inflation, real spending on food reveals more nuanced trends. In 2024, real food-at-home spending rebounded with a 1.8-percent increase after a 2.6-percent decline in 2023. This shows a stabilization in food-at-home consumption as inflation pressures eased. In contrast, real food-away-from-home spending grew by 3.0 percent in 2023 but grew by only 0.4 percent in 2024. This indicates that while food-away-from-home spending continues to rise, it is doing so at a slower rate amid higher prices. As a basic necessity, food remains a significant component of household expenditures, and as prices rise, overall food spending tends to increase. However, the way households respond to higher food prices varies, influencing the degree of spending adjustments. For example, some consumers may buy less food overall, opt for lower-cost alternatives, or reduce food-away-from-home spending by cooking more at home. The willingness of consumers to allocate a larger share of their budgets to food-away-from-home options indicates a preference for convenience, social dining experiences, and the value placed on food services. This chart is drawn from USDA, Economic Research Service’s Food Expenditure Series, updated in February 2025.
Ag and Food Statistics: Charting the Essentials - Food Prices and Spending | Economic Research Service

Feb 14, 2025 | ers.usda.gov

Retail food prices partially reflect farm-level commodity prices, but other costs of bringing food to the market (such as processing and retailing) have a greater role in determining prices on supermarket shelves and restaurant menus. Monthly price swings in grocery stores for individual food categories, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), tend to smooth out into modest yearly increases for food in general. In 2023, U.S. consumers, businesses, and government entities spent $2.6 trillion on food and beverages.
Farm Sector Income & Finances - Assets, Debt, and Wealth | Economic Research Service

Feb 7, 2025 | ers.usda.gov
Amber Waves: 2024 Year in Review

Jan 31, 2025 | ers.usda.gov | Winfrey Norton |Sara Scott |Cole Ehmke |Caitlin Hendel

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