A Network Analysis of the U.S. Food Economy using the Agri-Food Economic Data System (AgFEDS)

Erik Scherpf and Chandler Zachary

No 404692, 2026 Annual Meeting, July 26 - 28, 2026, Kansas City, Missouri from Agricultural and Applied Economics Association

Abstract: Recent disruptions to food supply chains have renewed interest in how shocks propagate through the U.S. food economy and which sectors occupy structurally important positions within it. This paper uses the USDA Economic Research Service Agri-Food Economic Data System (Ag-FEDS) to characterize the production network of the U.S. food economy and to connect that network structure to the USDA Food Dollar. We analyze the network along three dimensions: direction of propagation, depth of linkage, and conditioning on final food demand. Using measures based on input-output multiplier analysis, Domar weights, and related network centrality concepts, we examine both the overall food economy and the distinct production networks supporting food at home and food away from home. We also use the annual AgFEDS series from 2007 to 2024 to study the stability of these structural relationships over time. Conceptually, the paper shows how Food Dollar industry-group results can be decomposed into value-added intensity, food-conditional network centrality, and final-demand orientation, providing a bridge between Food Dollar accounting and the production-network literature.

Keywords: Production; Economics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 21
Date: 2026
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:aaea26:404692

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.404692

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