Rural Health Index

USDA's National Household Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey (FoodAPS) is the first nationally representative survey of U.S. households to collect unique and comprehensive data about household food purchases and acquisitions. Detailed information was collected about foods purchased or otherwise acquired for consumption at home and away from home, including foods acquired through food and nutrition assistance programs. The survey includes nationally representative data from 4,826 households, including Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) households, low-income households not participating in SNAP, and higher income households. 

ERS supports a broad spectrum of food and nutrition assistance research and has compiled an electronic database of more than 1,100 peer-reviewed reports and articles based on ERS-supported research. The database is searchable by title, lead author, topic, year of publication, and data set analyzed.

This product provides information about publicly available data from national surveys that include the U.S. Food Security Survey Module. Technical information is provided to facilitate appropriate use of the data, and links are provided to access data on line or to order the data files on CD-ROM.

The Food Environment Atlas is a web-based mapping tool developed by ERS that allows users to compare U.S. counties in terms of their “food environment”—indicators that help determine and reflect a community’s access to affordable, healthy food. Food environment factors—such as store/restaurant proximity, food prices, food and nutrition assistance programs, and community characteristics—interact to influence food choices and diet quality. The Atlas currently includes over 275 indicators of the food environment. The year and geographic level of the indicators vary to better accommodate data from a variety of sources. The most recent county-level, State, or regional data are used whenever possible.

The Food Access Research Atlas (formerly the Food Desert Locator) is a mapping tool that allows users to investigate multiple indicators of food store access. This tool expands upon previous estimates to provide a spatial overview of food access indicators by census tract, incorporates alternative estimates of low-income and low-access census tracts, and offers contextual information for all census tracts and many demographics in the U.S.

Overview
Individual decisions about how to use the 24 hours in a day have short- and long-term implications for income and earnings, health, and other aspects of well-being. Understanding time use patterns can provide insight into economic behaviors associated with eating patterns as well as the diet and health status of individuals. See Quick Facts. Knowing more about eating patterns, grocery shopping, and meal preparation, as well as understanding whether participants in food and nutrition assistance programs face different time constraints than nonparticipants can inform the design of food assistance and nutrition policies and programs.

Data
USDA’s Economic Research Service, along with its funding and technical assistance cosponsors—the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI)—worked with the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the Census Bureau to collect data for the 2014-16 Eating & Health Module (EH Module), a supplement to the American Time Use Survey (ATUS). The 2014-16 EH Module asks ATUS respondents about secondary eating—that is, eating while doing another activity; soft drink consumption; grocery shopping preferences and fast food purchases; meal preparation and food safety practices; food assistance participation; general health, height and weight, and exercise; and income. 

The program provides guaranteed loan financing and grant funding to agricultural producers and rural small businesses for renewable energy systems or to make energy efficiency improvements. Agricultural producers may also apply for new energy efficient equipment and new system loans for agricultural production and processing.

This data set provides time-series data on State- and county-level estimates of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participation and benefit levels, combined with area estimates of total population, the number of persons in poverty, and selected socio-demographic characteristics of the population. All data, except program benefit amounts, are for a selected point in time each year; program benefit levels are total benefits issued over the course of a calendar year. The most recent year of full data availability is 2012 for State-level SNAP participation and benefits, 2010 for county-level SNAP participation, and 2010 for county-level SNAP benefits. More recent information for SNAP participation and benefits is available for selected counties.

A common set of data elements is necessary for any entity; Federal, State, or private, to effectively share information for the purposes of animal disease traceability and as an overall part of an integrated national surveillance strategy. Additionally, standards are required that allow for effective, error-free data exchange. To ensure congruency and to facilitate discussion and implementation of data-sharing requirements among States, Tribes, and industry stakeholders, VS, in collaboration with the National Assembly of State Animal Health Officials, is publishing data standards for specific program activities. The first set of published standards is for electronically generated Interstate Certificates of Veterinary Inspection.

Veterinary Services (VS) training is highly specialized in the areas of animal health, import and export, domestic and foreign disease diagnosis and management, emergency response, epidemiology, and VS information systems. The training team uses classroom-based, blended, and virtual delivery to provide training for VS employees as well as VS partners and stakeholders from industry, state, and federal organizations.