Ag and Food Statistics: Charting the Essentials

How much do you know about food and agriculture? What about rural America or conservation? ERS has assembled 70 charts and maps covering key information about the farm and food sectors, including agricultural markets and trade, farm income, food prices and consumption, food security, rural economies, and the interaction of agriculture and natural resources.

How much, for example, do agriculture and related industries contribute to U.S. gross domestic product and account for U.S. jobs? What share of the U.S. land base is in agricultural uses? Which commodities are the leading agricultural exports? How much of the food dollar goes to farmers? How do poverty rates in rural areas compare with metro areas? These are among the statistics covered in this collection of charts and maps—with accompanying text—divided into the nine section titles listed at left.

Use the navigation to the left to view the full chart collection.

ERS also periodically publishes a booklet of selected Essentials charts and maps, for the latest edition see:

Selected Charts from Ag and Food Statistics: Charting the Essentials, 2024 (AP-121, February 2024)

What is agriculture's share of the overall U.S. economy?

According to data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, agriculture, food, and related industries contributed roughly $1.537 trillion to U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) in 2023, a 5.5-percent share. The output of America’s farms contributed $222.3 billion of this sum—about 0.8 percent of U.S. GDP. The overall contribution of agriculture to GDP is larger than 0.8 percent because sectors related to agriculture rely on agricultural inputs to contribute added value to the economy. Sectors related to agriculture include food and beverage manufacturing; food and beverage stores; food services and eating/drinking places; textiles, apparel, and leather products; and forestry and fishing.

USDA conservation funding encompasses a variety of programs

USDA provides financial and technical assistance to agricultural producers through voluntary conservation programs to address natural resource concerns. While the 2002 and 2008 Farm Acts each increased conservation spending, the 2014 and 2018 Farm Acts held total budgeted spending largely level, at an average of between $6.0 and $6.5 billion per year in 2023 dollars. Actual spending (shown in the chart) has varied more year to year. Current major funded USDA programs include the Regional Conservation Partnership Program, which assists partners addressing problems on a regional or watershed scale through methods including land retirement, easements, and conservation practices. The Agricultural Conservation Easement Program provides long-term or permanent easements for preservation of wetlands and the protection of agricultural land from commercial or residential development. The Conservation Stewardship Program provides 5-year contracts that pay producers to maintain or expand existing conservation activities. The Environmental Quality Incentives Program provides financial assistance to farmers to employ conservation practices, such as conservation tillage, and planting cover crops. The Conservation Reserve Program provides 10‒15-year contracts that pay producers to restrict agricultural land use in ways that promote ecosystem services. This chart does not include funding provided under the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which provided additional funding for several major conservation programs. Estimated IRA spending totaled approximately $3.1 billion in fiscal year 2024 and enacted IRA funding totaled approximately $5.7 billion in fiscal year 2025.

U.S. net farm income forecast to decrease in 2024

Gross farm income reflects the total value of agricultural output plus Government farm program payments. Net farm income (NFI) reflects income after expenses from production in the calendar year and is calculated by subtracting farm expenses from gross farm income. NFI considers cash, noncash income, and expenses and accounts for changes in commodity inventories. In 2023, inflation-adjusted net farm income was $150.3 billion, and it is expected to decrease by 6.3 percent to $140.7 billion in 2024. When adjusted for inflation, farm production expenses are forecast to decrease by 4.1 percent relative to 2023, reaching $453.9 billion in 2024.

Rural areas experienced renewed population growth following the COVID-19 pandemic

For the second year following the COVID-19 pandemic, population increased in nonmetro areas, growing 0.12 percent from mid-2021 to mid-2022. Nonmetro population change had reversed in the previous year, from a 0.09-percent decline in 2019–20 to a 0.14-percent increase in the following 12 months. A turnaround in migration flows between metro and nonmetro counties occurred during the first year and a half of the COVID-19 pandemic, in contrast with the previous decade that saw the first-ever loss in nonmetro population (from 2010–17) when annual population change averaged -0.08 percent per year.

Overall U.S. crop production is concentrated in California and the Midwest

The five states with the highest value of crop sales are California, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, and Nebraska. With its large horticultural sector, California's overall crop value of more than $33 billion (in 2017) is about 59 percent higher than that of Illinois, the second-ranked State. In contrast to California, crop values in the next four leading States derive from grains and oilseeds (particularly corn and soybeans). For other crops, Washington State typically leads the country in apple production, while Florida is the largest producer of oranges.

U.S. agricultural import values outpaced export values in fiscal year 2023

The United States typically exports more agricultural goods by value than it imports, but the value of imports has grown more rapidly than exports over the past decade, contributing to a negative trade balance in some years. From fiscal years 2013 to 2023, U.S. agricultural exports expanded at a compound annual growth rate of 2.1 percent. During that same time, U.S. agricultural imports increased by 5.8 percent. The robust increase in U.S. demand for imports has been largely driven by the strong U.S. dollar and consumer preferences for year-round produce selections. The resulting agricultural trade balance was negative in 3 of the past 10 fiscal years.

U.S. diets are out of balance with Federal recommendations

While people in the United States are consuming more vegetables and fruit than in 1970, the average U.S. diet still falls short of the recommendations in the <i>2020–2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans</i> for these major food groups. On average, 2018 consumption of meat, eggs, and nuts as well as grains in the United States was higher than the recommended amounts.

U.S. food-at-home prices increased 5 percent in 2023 compared with 2022

Average annual food-at-home prices were 5.0 percent higher in 2023 than in 2022. For context, the 20-year historical level of retail food price inflation is 2.5 percent per year. Price growth slowed in 2023 compared with 2022, when food-at-home prices rose by 11.4 percent. Prices for fats and oils rose the fastest in 2023 (9.0 percent), followed by sugar and sweets (8.7 percent), and cereals and bakery products (8.4 percent). Pork was the only category to decline in price in 2023, by 1.2 percent. Prices for several categories grew more slowly than their historical averages, including beef and veal (3.6 percent), eggs (1.4 percent), fresh vegetables (0.9 percent), fresh fruits (0.7 percent), and fish and seafood (0.3 percent).

The prevalence of food insecurity increased in 2023 compared with 2022

In 2023, 13.5 percent of U.S. households were food insecure at least some time during the year, meaning the households had difficulty providing enough food for all their members because of a lack of resources. The 13.5 percent of food-insecure households (18.0 million households) includes 5.1 percent (6.8 million) that experienced very low food security, a more severe form of food insecurity in which the food intake of some household members was reduced and normal eating patterns were disrupted. The 2023 prevalence rate of food insecurity was statistically significantly higher than the rate recorded in 2022 (12.8 percent).