Those reporting on food, farming, food-borne illnesses and related topics may find several links from the Department of Agriculture helpful. The USDA Census of Agriculture offers a “comprehensive summary of agricultural activity for the United States and for each state,” including “number of farms by size and type, inventory and values for crops and livestock, operator characteristics and much more.” Get even more specific with cropland data from the interactive National Agricultural Statistics Service CropScape page.
The Food Safety and Inspection Service has information on recalls available here, and quarterly reports are available here. If you are looking into school lunches (National School Lunch Program) or any other food and nutrition programs, such as the Emergency Food Assistance Program or the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations, the USDA Web Based Supply Chain Management page has information relevant to the federal Food and Nutrition Service, Farm Service Agency, Agriculture Marketing Service and Foreign Agricultural Service as well as USAID.