USDA administers 15 domestic food assistance programs that serve an estimated 1 in 5 Americans at some point during the year. Each program targets specific populations with different nutritional needs. These programs work individually and in concert to provide a nutritional safety net for...

The Economic Research Service Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Program (FANRP) offers a Small Grants Program designed to stimulate new and innovative research on food assistance and nutrition issues and to broaden the participation of social science scholars in these issues. ERS created...

The social safety nets in Mexico and the United States rely heavily on food assistance programs to ensure food security and access to safe and nutritious foods. To achieve these general goals, both countries' programs are exclusively paid for out of internal funds and both target low-income...

Rebates from infant formula manufacturers to State agencies that administer the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) support over one-quarter of all WIC participants. However, concerns have been raised that WIC and its infant formula rebate program may...

USDA school meal programs represent a significant Federal investment, at a cost of almost $8 billion in 2001. More than 27 million children are served school meals annually, making USDA school meals programs a logical place to look for action to improve children's diets. It has been argued that...

A USDA Report to Congress found that "competitive foods"-those available in schools in addition to USDA-provided school meals-have lower nutritional quality than school meals. These foods may contribute to overconsumption of food energy, dietary fat, saturated fat, added sugars, and sodium, and...

A minimum of $3.6 billion would be saved if breastfeeding were increased from current levels (64 percent in-hospital, 29 percent at 6 months) to those recommended by the U.S. Surgeon General (75 and 50 percent). This figure is likely an underestimation of the total savings because it represents...

The Food Stamp Program saw an unprecedented decline in participation from 27.5 million participants in 1994 to 18.2 million participants in 1999. A strong economy and changes in social welfare programs drove this change. An econometric model with State-level data calculated that 35 percent of...

Decoupled payments are lump-sum income transfers to farm operators that do not depend on current production, factor use, or commodity prices. Such payments are not currently constrained by global trade rules, but many countries argue that they distort production and trade and that their use...

Society has recently increased the value it places on the services that wetlands provide, including water quality improvements, flood control, wildlife habitat, and recreation. However, owners of wetlands are often unable to profit from these services because the benefits created are freely...