CONTENTS
Also Inside
45 Food Assistance Expenditures Increase
in 2001
? Victor Oliveira
51 ERS Releases New Report, Household Food
Security in the United States, 2000
Consumer-Driven Agriculture
2 America's Changing Appetite: Food
Consumption and Spending to 2020
?Noel Blisard, Biing-Hwan Lin, John Cromartie, and Nicole
Ballenger
10 Population Growth and Demographic Change,
1980-2020
?John Cromartie
13 New Health Information Is Reshaping Food
Choices
?Jayachandran N. Variyam and Elise Golan
19 Changing Consumer Demands Create
Opportunities for U.S. Food System
?David E. Davis and Hayden Stewart
24 Food Product Introductions Continue To Decline
in 2000
?J. Michael Harris
28 Innovation by Food Companies Key to Growth
and Profitability
?Hayden Stewart and Steve Martinez
33 Farm Business Practices Coordinate Production
With Consumer Preferences
?Steve Martinez and David E. Davis
39 U.S. Food Sector Linked to Global Consumers
?Anita Regmi and Greg Pompelli
America's appetite, like its population,
is always changing.
Foods once favored are now rarely
eaten. Foods once only dreamed
about are a reality. Dining out, once
thought to be a luxury, is now common.
The Nation's population is
wealthier, older, more educated,
and more ethnically diverse than
in the past. And these demographic
changes are likely to become more
pronounced in the next 20 years.
Consumers will continue to demand
new food products, new packaging,
more convenience, new delivery
systems, and safer and more nutritious
foods. Consequently, USDA's
Economic Research Service (ERS)
has undertaken an extensive effort