Agriculture is like any other business in that producers are searching for ways to achieve profitability. Their margins, the difference between revenues and costs, depend on many factors: weather, crop yields, livestock birthing rates, production costs, demand, etc. Within agriculture, crop and livestock margins tend to be countercyclical. When crop margins are high, livestock margins are usually low and vice versa. This relationship makes sense as high crop prices create strong revenues for crop producers, but high production costs for livestock producers; and the current pricing situation shows the opposite holds as well. Low crop prices create weak revenues for crop producers and lower production costs for livestock producers.

The special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) is one of USDA’s major food assistance programs. WIC is authorized under the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. Major changes in the supplemental food packages were introduced in 2009 based on recommendations of a committee of the National Academies’ Institute of Medicine (IOM). One of the innovative program changes implemented at that time was the introduction of a cash value voucher (CVV) to supplement the purchase of fruit and vegetables for qualifying participants.

The conversion

of grass-like land to row crops (in our case, corn or soybeans) and general land use change in the Corn Belt region has important water quality implications. Additional agricultural production can increase nutrient runoff into the Upper Mississippi River Basin, thereby increasing the size of the Gulf of Mexico hypoxic zone. We use two data sources from the National Agricultural Statistical Services (NASS) to obtain detailed land use information in the Corn Belt from 2006 to 2014. We also identify and analyze any similarities and discrepancies between both data sources.

The expansion

of biofuel production brought about a signi�icant change in the dynamics between agriculture and energy. In the past, energy prices in�luenced the agricultural sector primarily through agricultural commodity production and transportation costs. Now, because of biofuels, the energy sector impacts the agricultural sector through feedstock demand and prices; and conversely, the agricultural sector now impacts energy prices through its competition in the transportation energy sector. In the past, studies analyzed the impact of biofuel production on agricultural and energy markets separately without accounting for sector feedback. However, in analyzing the impact of biofuels, the interconnectedness between the agricultural and energy sectors should not be ignored.