Source: USDA ECONOMIC RESEARCH SERVICE, 5/7/20

Summary
What Is the Issue? The U.S. food system comprises all businesses that are either directly or indirectly involved in producing and marketing food products, such as the producers of farm inputs like fertilizers and machinery, the farmers growing food and feed commodities, and the processors making food products, plus the food merchants and eating places where U.S. consumers spent over $1.8 trillion on food and beverages in 2018. Natural resources—land, water, minerals, air, and forests—provide materials and services necessary to produce and market the food we eat. To supply the food production to meet the food demand of a growing population, it is important to understand the U.S. food system’s impact on these natural resources. This report concerns only the food system’s production and marketing of food products for purchase by or for all American food consumers. Three main factors determine the resource requirements of food demand: Population (how many consumers?), diet (what will they consume?), and technology (how will our food system produce, market, and preserve our food supply?). This study focused on the use of natural resources in the U.S. food system by examining recent research on one of these factors, diet, to illustrate how food choices can affect use of resources.

For the full report, click here.