Food Environment Atlas

Lyndi Allen
August 7, 2025

Mapping Food Access, Availability, and Community Health Nationwide

Food environment factors—such as store and restaurant proximity, availability of local foods, food and nutrition assistance programs, and community characteristics—interact to influence food choices and diet quality.


The objectives of the Food Environment Atlas are:

  • to provide a spatial overview of a community's ability to access healthy food and its success in doing so, and
  • to assemble statistics on food environment indicators to stimulate research on the determinants of food choices and diet quality.


View the map here on U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)'s website

pork power l
November 20, 2025
The Illinois Pork Producers Association and IL Corn share a longstanding partnership that strengthens livestock production, boosts grain demand, and supports food banks through the Pork Power program. Learn how this collaboration benefits farmers and families across Illinois.
World map showing corn-based biofuel production and transport routes, with a tanker, and a corn graphic.
By Lyndi Allen November 20, 2025
Trade deals and tariff negotiations are increasingly critical as farmers conclude the U.S. corn and soybean harvest; new opportunities could ease profitability pressures
shane, jena and f
By Tara Desmond November 20, 2025
Ducks Unlimited’s Fletcher Morgan and Jenna Herrick share how farmer involvement is growing — and transforming — DU’s work across the Big Rivers Initiative
turkey farm
By Tara Desmond November 20, 2025
Discover how Illinois farmers help raise nearly 3 million turkeys each year, the vital role Illinois corn plays in their growth, and how these birds make their way from local farms to Thanksgiving tables nationwide.
graphic of a furnace filter made from corn
By Tara Desmond November 19, 2025
Discover how Aerterra is transforming U.S. corn into high-performance, PFAS-free furnace filters and redefining clean air with renewable, bio-based materials.
Ducks
By Lyndi Allen November 13, 2025
Ducks Unlimited partners with Illinois farmers—helping them “farm the best and conserve the rest.”
Show More