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

Group at NCERC
By Brownfield Ag October 23, 2025
Turning Corn into Opportunity: Breakthrough Research from NCERC
Shane and Charlie
By Tara Desmond October 23, 2025
Trust Starts with Listening: Lessons from the Center for Food Integrity
nitrogen
By Tara Desmond October 23, 2025
If you’re sweating in a hoodie, your nitrogen’s probably sweating too.
Black cow grazing in a green field, cornfield in the background, wind turbine, cloudy blue sky.
By Lyndi Allen October 23, 2025
U.S. cattle farmers are pushing back against a new plan to import more beef from Argentina, warning it threatens American livelihoods while doing little to help consumers.
Combine harvester at sunset, harvesting crops, with orange and yellow sky.
By Lyndi Allen October 23, 2025
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced this week that its Farm Service Agency (FSA) offices will resume “core” operations beginning October 23rd, 2025.
Head Farm
By Tara Desmond October 16, 2025
In today’s world, most people are several generations removed from the farm but that doesn’t mean they aren’t curious about where their food comes from. The Illinois Farm Families (IFF) Ambassador Program was designed to bridge that gap.
Show More