The food dollar series provides an overview of the food system, with estimates of the farm share and of the distribution of food-dollar value-added shares over time:

• For every dollar spent in 2011 in the U.S. on domestically produced food (food dollar), U.S. farmers sold 15.5 cents of farm products to non-farm establishments (farm share). After falling to 14.1 cents in 2010, the farm share of food dollar expenditures in 2011 rose to a level comparable to the 2007-08 level.
• Energy costs per food dollar increased by nearly 15 percent between 2010 and 2011 and were 5.5 cents per food dollar in 2011; this follows a decline of nearly 30 percent between 2008 and 2010.
• Food processing costs per food dollar were 22 cents in 2011—a modest increase of 0.3 cents since 2010—following a 17-percent increase (2.1 cents) from 2008 to 2010.
• The share of food retailers' costs for food-at-home expenditures fell for the fifth straight year to 21.4 cents in 2011.

Last updated: Tuesday, March 05, 2013

For more information contact: Patrick Canning