Using five key indicators of nutritional status (dietary intake, biochemical tests for circulating levels of nutrients or their metabolites, anthropometric measures, low birth weight and infant mortality rates, and food, health, and income assistance program participation rates and benefit levels), this 1-year research project identified national, regional, and local data bases/resources providing reliable indications of the nutritional status of the rural poor and identified/interpreted patterns, issues, problems, and needs from these data sources. Data sources included the Second Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, natality and mortality tapes from the National Center for Health Statistics, state vital statistics offices, the Nationwide Food Consumption Survey, and the Bureau of the Census. Data analysis indicated consistent evidence of disparities between nutritional status of the rural poor and that of the nation as a whole; ongoing deterioration of the nutritional status of the rural poor as well as growing gaps between their status and that of the rest of the nation; and soaring numbers of poor rural persons unserved by government food, health, and income assistance programs or receiving disproportionate shares of programs (often less than 40% of the per capita level received by the urban poor). (NEC)