Alana Rhone

Agricultural Economist
alana.y.rhone@usda.gov

Briefly

Alana Rhone is an Agricultural Economist in the Food Assistance Branch in the Food Economics Division at USDA, Economic Research Service (ERS). Her research focuses on food access in the United States.

Background

Alana joined USDA, ERS in January 2016. She was a summer intern at USDA, ERS for the 3 previous years while pursuing her undergraduate degree. As an intern, Alana examined the use of Federal food assistance programs. Now, her work focuses on two well-established mapping tools that look at the food environment, including the Food Access Research Atlas and the Food Environment Atlas.

Education

Alana holds an M.A. in public policy, with a concentration in social policy, from American University. She received a B.S. in agricultural economics from Southern University and A&M College.

Selected Publications

Ghazaryan, A., Park, S., Onufrak, S. J., Carlson, A. C., Rhone, A., & Roy, K. (2024). Characteristics associated with purchasing sugar-sweetened beverages and bottled water among U.S. households, 2015. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 124(1), 28–41.

Ghazaryan, A., Carlson, A. C., Rhone, A., & Roy, K. (2023). Association between county-level food retail and socioeconomic environment and nutritional quality of household food purchases, 2015. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 123(5), 796–808.

Ghazaryan, A., Carlson, A., Rhone, A. Y., & Roy, K. (2021). Association between the nutritional quality of household at-home food purchases and chronic diseases and risk factors in the United States, 2015. Nutrients, 13(9), 3260.