The primary purpose of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s research arm is to anticipate trends and emerging issues across four core areas under USDA’s purview: agriculture, food, the environment, and rural America. The ERS provides data and analysis to policymakers, evaluates Federal food and nutrition programs, and monitors factors that impact rural life and development. Recent reports include:
- Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) – this report provides a brief background on the nation’s largest nutrition assistance program, explaining the Federal-State relationship for distributing benefits and recent changes brought by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act enacted last year.
- Migration and Aging Across the Rural-Urban Continuum – this report finds that population aging from 2010 to 2020 was driven almost entirely by aging in place, rather than migration, as in previous decades. Counties to which older people moved tended to have better economic and health indicators than counties where younger people migrated away.