USDA Food Insecurity Data and U.S. Egg Production Higher

**USDA’s Economic Research Service monitors the extent of food insecurity in U.S. households at the national and state levels through an annual U.S. Census Bureau Survey.

State-level estimates are obtained by averaging three years of data to generate a larger sample size in each state.

The national three-year average (2020-22) was 11.2% of American households classified as food insecure.

Of that, findings ranged from 6.2% in New Hampshire to 16.6% in Alaska.

**U.S. egg production totaled 9.3 billion during November, up 4% from November 2022.

Production included just over eight billion table eggs and 1.28 billion hatching eggs.

The average number of layers during November totaled 390 million, 3% higher than last year.

November egg production per 100 layers was 2,385 eggs, 1% higher than a year earlier.

Total layers in the U.S. on December 1 were 389 million, up three percent from a year ago.

**The National Ag Statistics Service is looking for feedback on its estimating programs.

The agency says NASS will also consider all available information, including public input, when determining whether to add or remove specific programs when selecting the individual states included in each commodity program.

With data collection for the 2022 Census of Agriculture complete, the program review is now underway.