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Effects of USDA's Food Assistance and Nutrition
Programs on Nutrition and Health
A new ERS report series provides a comprehensive
review and synthesis of existing research on the impact of
USDA's food assistance and nutrition programs. Though the
review indicates that conclusions from past studies must be
interpreted with caution, the review highlights some specific
findings. For example, research has consistently shown that
the Food Stamp Program increases household food expenditures,
which in turn leads to increased availability of certain nutrients
at the household level. Also, the Special Supplemental Nutrition
Program for Women, Infants, and Children increases mean birthweight,
lowers the incidence of low birthweight, and decreases birth-related
health care costs.
The review comprises four reports: Effects
of Food Assistance and Nutrition Programs on Nutrition and
Health. Volume I: Research Design (FANRR 19-1), Volume
II: Data Sources (FANRR 19-2), Volume
III: Literature Review (FANRR 19-3), and Volume
IV: Summary of Literature Review (FANRR 19-4). Biing-Hwan
Lin
Technology
Adoption Updates from ARMS
Recent data from the Agricultural Resource Management
Survey highlight the extent of precision technology adoption
among producers. For example, cotton producers adopted satellite-driven
guidance systems on about 6 percent of planted area in 2003,
similar to adoption levels reported by corn and soybean producers
in previous years. However, cotton producers had not adopted
other precision agriculture technologies, such as yield monitors
and yield maps, to the same extent as producers of corn, wheat,
and soybeans. These and other data are available on the ERS
website by clicking here: Table
1 and Table
2. Stan Daberkow
and Tim Payne
Redesigned
Food Consumption Data System
In January 2005, ERS released a redesigned per
capita food consumption data system. Users can access
per capita food availability data (also known as U.S. food
supply data or disappearance data) for all commodities through
2003, either by downloading spreadsheets or using the newly
expanded custom database to develop tables or charts for specific
food groups, commodities, and years. For the first time, spreadsheets
are now available on per capita servings and can be compared
with servings recommendations for the U.S. population. Jean
Buzby and Hodan Farah
Agriculture
in the WTO
The myriad issues facing trade negotiators are
explored in a new book, Agricultural Policy Reform and
the WTO: Where Are We Heading?, recently released by
Edward Elgar publishers. An outgrowth of a 2003 conference
cosponsored by ERS, the book covers both challenges for the
major countries and regions of the world as well as critical
negotiating issues that require global compromises, such as
market access, domestic support, and export competition. The
increasing complexity of global agricultural markets is also
analyzed, including the economic implications of food safety,
intellectual property rights, and regional trading arrangements.
Mary Bohman
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