Newsroom

New from ERS

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  Examining the Rural College Labor Market

  In the last 15 years, changing skill demands among rural employers have elevated the importance of a college education. This report examines trends in the U.S. rural college labor force, focusing on factors such as rural college enrollment and degree completion, and the location decisions of college students.

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  Biotechnology in U.S. Crop Production: A Primer on Adoption, Costs, and Regulatory Structure

  Genetically engineered (GE) crop varieties have achieved widespread adoption in major field crops, accounting for more than 90 percent of corn, soybean, and cotton acreage in the United States since 2023. This report examines adoption, costs, and the regulatory structure of agricultural biotechnology.

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  Most Favored Nation Tariffs and U.S. Agricultural Trade

  This report compares most favored nation average tariffs across agricultural commodities between the United States and its trading partners. Tariffs are used by countries to protect domestic producers from foreign competition, to raise revenue, and to negotiate new economic and non-economic agreements.

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  Cooperative Extension in Transition: Trends Through 2024

  The U.S. Cooperative Extension Service provides non-formal education through land-grant universities. Since the 1970s, Extension funding has diversified and professional staff and Federal funding have declined, with notable regional differences.

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  Food-animal Veterinarians and the Persistence of Rural Shortage Areas

  Veterinarian services are an important input into food-animal agriculture. However, veterinarian shortages in food‑animal and mixed‑animal practices have persisted across many U.S. rural areas for more than a decade, despite ongoing Federal and State efforts to address service gaps.

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  Agricultural Income and Finance Situation and Outlook: 2021–23 Edition

  This report presents economic studies of the farm sector during the period of high inflation (2021-23) and interest rates, which could have been detrimental to the financial health of farm operations and households. The findings provide insight into the vulnerability of the farm and agricultural banking sectors.

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  Local Food Procurement Pathways: Key Drivers of Farm to School Participating Authorities Buying Directly From Farmers

  Farm to School (F2S) programs are widely adopted in U.S. school food systems: in 2022–2023, 74 percent of U.S. schools participated in F2S activities, and their local food purchases totaled $1.8 billion. This report analyzes how these schools source local products and the factors shaping their procurement choices.

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  Signaling Food Safety: Pathogen Rates of Raw Poultry With Food Safety Certifications

  This study examines the relationship between private sector-led food safety certifications and pathogen detection rates in raw poultry products. The analysis utilizes pathogen surveillance data, detecting Campylobacter and Salmonella from raw poultry products, from 592 raw poultry processing establishments.

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  Tile Drainage Systems Management and Conservation

  This report details trends in tile drainage usage, as well as the joint adoption of tile drainage and other management practices. This report also reviews the past 15 years of Federal financial assistance for conservation modifications to tile drainage systems.

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  Migration and Aging Across the Rural-Urban Continuum

  This report studies migration and aging patterns across U.S. counties from 1990 to 2020. This report finds that population aging in the 2010s was driven almost entirely by aging in place, rather than migration, like in previous decades. Counties to which older people moved tended to have better economic and health indicators than counties where younger people migrated away.