Farmland tenure shapes many farm decisions, including those related to production, conservation, and succession planning. The relatively advanced age of many farmers raises questions abut land ownership, especially how land will be transferred to the next generation of agricultural landowners and operators. This study provides a descriptive baseline analysis of land ownership and then focuses on more detailed aspects of land tenure, including non-operator landlords, rental agreements, the acquisition and transfer of land, and how decisionmaking is shared by landlords and their tenants. The report is designed to support broad discussions related to agricultural land ownership and to provide a starting point for more detailed statistical analysis. Figures and tables. This is a print on demand report.

This report is part of a multi-volume technical report series entitled, Running a Food Hub, with this guide serving as a companion piece to other United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) reports by providing in-depth guidance on starting and running a food hub enterprise. In order to compile the most current information on best management and operations practices, the authors used published information on food hubs, surveyed numerous operating food hubs, and pulled from their existing experience and knowledge of working directly with food hubs across the country as an agricultural business consulting firm. The report’s main focus is on the operational issues faced by food hubs, including choosing an organizational structure, choosing a location, deciding on infrastructure and equipment, logistics and transportation, human resources, and risks. As such, the guide explores the different decision points associated with the organizational steps for starting and implementing a food hub. For some sections, sidebars provide “decision points,” which food hub managers will need to address to make key operational decisions. This illustrated guide may assist the operational staff at small businesses or third-party organizations that may provide aggregation, marketing, and distribution services from local and regional producers to assist with wholesale, retail, and institution demand at government institutions, colleges/universities, restaurants, grocery store chains, etc. Undergraduate students pursuing coursework for a bachelor of science degree in food science, or agricultural economics may be interested in this guide. Additionally, this reference work will be helpful to small businesses within the food trade discipline.

The United States is viewed by the world as a country with plenty of food, yet not all households in America are food secure, meaning access at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life. A proportion of the population experiences food insecurity at some time in a given year because of food deprivation and lack of access to food due to economic resource constraints. Still, food insecurity in the United States is not of the same intensity as in some developing countries. Since 1995 the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has annually published statistics on the extent of food insecurity and food insecurity with hunger in U.S. households. These estimates are based on a survey measure developed by the U.S. Food Security Measurement Project, an ongoing collaboration among federal agencies, academic researchers, and private organizations. USDA requested the Committee on National Statistics of the National Academies to convene a panel of experts to undertake a two-year study in two phases to review at this 10-year mark the concepts and methodology for measuring food insecurity and hunger and the uses of the measure. In Phase 2 of the study the panel was to consider in more depth the issues raised in Phase 1 relating to the concepts and methods used to measure food security and make recommendations as appropriate. The Committee on National Statistics appointed a panel of 10 experts to examine the above issues. In order to provide timely guidance to USDA, the panel issued an interim Phase 1 report, Measuring Food Insecurity and Hunger: Phase 1 Report. That report presented the panel's preliminary assessments of the food security concepts and definitions; the appropriateness of identifying hunger as a severe range of food insecurity in such a survey-based measurement method; questions for measuring these concepts; and the appropriateness of a household survey for regularly monitoring food security in the U.S. population. It provided interim guidance for the continued production of the food security estimates. This final report primarily focuses on the Phase 2 charge. The major findings and conclusions based on the panel's review and deliberations are summarized.

As the last quarter of 2015 begins, production data show that total red meat and poultry production, aggregated over the first three quarters of 2015, increased by less than 1 percent over the same period of 2014. In the first three quarters of 2015, beef production is about 3 percent below production in the same period last year. Cattle prices so far in 2015 have averaged almost 3 percent above prices in the same period of 2014. Production effects of disease outbreaks link the pork and poultry sectors, but in divergent directions: the pork sector continues to recover from the effects of porcine epidemic diarrhea (PEDv) outbreaks last year, with total production in the first three quarters of 2015 almost 8 percent ahead of the same period in 2014. The poultry sector is recovering from Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), the effects of which has fallen so far on the turkey sector (2 percent lower production) and the egg sector (5 percent lower production). Turkey prices have averaged almost 6 percent above the same period last year; average egg prices are almost 36 percent above the same period of 2014. Broiler production is up in 2015 by 4 percent.

Learn more about how health nutrition experts can help you make the correct food choices for a healthy lifestyle The eighth edition of the Dietary Guidelines is designed for professionals to help all individuals, ages 2 years-old and above, and their families to consume a healthy, nutritionally adequate diet. The 2015-2020 edition provides five overarching Guidelines that encourage: healthy eating patterns recognize that individuals will need to make shifts in their food and beverage choices to achieve a healthy pattern acknowledge that all segments of our society have a role to play in supporting healthy choices provides a healthy framework in which individuals can enjoy foods that meet their personal, cultural and traditional preferences within their food budget This guidance can help you choose a healthy diet and focus on preventing the diet-related chronic diseases that continue to impact American populations. It is also intended to help you to improve and maintain overall health for disease prevention. **NOTE: This printed edition contains a minor typographical error within the Appendix. The Errata Sheet describing the errors can be found by clicking here. This same errata sheet can be used for the digital formats of this product available for free. Health professionals, including physicians, nutritionists, dietary counselors, nurses, hospitality meal planners, health policymakers, and beneficiaries of the USDA National School Lunch and School Breakfast program and their administrators may find these guidelines most useful. American consumers can also use this information to help make helathy food choices for themselves and their families.

The United States bans imports of certain agricultural and wildlife goods that can carry pathogens or diseases or whose harvest can threaten wildlife stocks or endanger species. Despite these bans, contraband is regularly uncovered in inspections of cargo containers and in domestic markets. This study characterizes the economic factors affecting agricultural and wildlife smuggling by drawing on inspection and interdiction data from USDA and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and existing economic literature. Findings reveal that agricultural and wildlife smuggling primarily include luxury goods, ethnic foods, and specialty goods, such as traditional medicines. Incidents of detected smuggling are disproportionately higher for agricultural goods originating in China and for wildlife goods originating in Mexico. Fragmentary data show that approximately 1 percent of all commercial wildlife shipments to the United States and 0.40 percent of all U.S. wildlife imports by value are refused entry and suspected of being smuggled.