The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) is the major purchaser of infant formula in the United States. To reduce the cost of infant formula to WIC, Federal law requires that WIC State agencies operate a costcontainment system for the purchase of infant...

Indonesia’s food market has changed in response to a changing and growing economy. The report examines changes in the food consumption pattern and measures the growth of modern food retail chains, packaged food purchases, and food imports in the world’s fourth-most-populous country. The...

During most of 2005-10, the price of expiring U.S. corn, soybeans, and wheat futures contracts settled much higher than corresponding delivery market cash prices. Because futures contracts at expiration are commonly thought to be equivalent to cash grain, this commodity price non-convergence...

Most Americans consume diets that do not meet Federal dietary recommendations. A common explanation is that healthier foods are more expensive than less healthy foods. To investigate this assumption, the authors compare prices of healthy and less healthy foods using three different price...

Almost a third of U.S. farm households generate income by engaging in business ventures independent of commodity production, with distinctly different community and household benefits. In 2007, 686,600 farm households engaged in 791,000 income-generating activities distinct from commodity...

Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS) data for 2007 highlight the production\r practices and costs related to the cotton enterprise, as well as the characteristics of\r U.S. cotton farm operations. Combining ARMS data with ERS cost-of-cotton production\r estimates for 2007 provides a...

Pesticide use has changed considerably over the past five decades. Rapid growth characterized the first 20 years, ending in 1981. The total quantity of pesticides applied to the 21 crops analyzed grew from 196 million pounds of pesticide active ingredients in 1960 to 632 million pounds in 1981....

This study compares the growth of cooperatives with noncooperative. counterparts in seven marketing and distribution industries. Commodities involved in the study are fruits and vegetables, milk and other dairy products, poultry and eggs, grain, feed, fertilizer, and petroleum. The cooperatives...

To meet the volume requirements of new markets like restaurants and supermarkets, trout growers in the Southern Appalachians are considering forming a cooperative to process and market the fish. The growers say they would commit up to 1,260,519 pounds of trout to a cooperative. That volume will...

This report gives results of a 1975-76 survey of marketing, farm supply, and related service cooperatives in the United States. Total gross business volume for cooperatives amounted to $55.9 billion, while total net business amounted to $40.1 billion. Total number of cooperatives and cooperative...