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

A poster about the food environment, with maps showing data of various crops.

< Older Post

 Newer Post >
Shane and Taylor

Meet the Robot Changing How Illinois Farmers Fight Weeds

By Tara Desmond • May 21, 2026
Solinftec's Solix robot uses AI to target weeds in real time, cutting chemical use up to 90%. Solar-powered, autonomous, and built for Midwest farms.
Photo taken in McLean County Museum of History

Illinois Ag Across Time: Episode 2

By Tara Desmond • May 21, 2026
Illinois Ag Across Time - Episode 2: Tracing 200 years of Illinois farm families, innovation, and the land that fed a nation.
Don Meyer

Illinois Ag Across Time: Episode 1

By Tara Desmond • May 21, 2026
Illinois Ag Across Time — Tracing 200 years of Illinois farm families, innovation, and the land that fed a nation.
Hammer striking corn kernels on a wooden surface, with kernels scattering in a rustic barn setting

Ethanol: Fact vs. Fiction

By Lyndi Allen • May 21, 2026
Ethanol is a powerhouse for American farms, fuels American vehicles, and has strengthened America’s economy for decades, but remains one of the most misunderstood fuels on the road today.
Cargo containers lined up at a port beside a canal, under a bright sky

From River Locks to Global Markets

By Lyndi Allen • May 21, 2026
For decades, America’s inland waterways operated on a system that couldn’t keep up—aging infrastructure, delayed projects, and a funding model that forced farmers and shippers to wait.
agronomy angle

Did the Spring Rains Kill Your Rootworms? Here's the Honest Answer

By Matt Montgomery • May 18, 2026
Watch for fireflies and cottonwood fluff - they tell you exactly when rootworms are hatching and whether spring rains actually hurt their numbers.
Show More