Excerpt
While Americans are accustomed to US Congress revisiting the farm bill every five to seven years, less familiar is the breadth of influence agricultural policy has in today's society. For example, as 2012 waned without a new farm bill, surprised consumers learned milk prices could nearly double if agricultural supply management programs reverted to default policies established in 1949 (Editorial Board 2012). Furthermore, nutrition programs received over two-thirds of the US$400+ billion allocated by the 2008 farm bill (figure 1), indicating that agricultural policy extends well beyond the farm. Farm bills are particularly relevant to soil and water conservation, as their conservation programs have become the dominant source of public funds for private lands conservation (Burger et al. 2006). The number and complexity of farm bills, however, make it difficult to comprehend the scope and impact of this legislation.
Here we provide a historical primer on US agricultural policy as a foundation for understanding current food, energy, and environmental policy discussions. This retrospective marks the 80th anniversary of the first comprehensive farm bill—the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933 (table 1). Given the emphasis of this journal, we focus on agricultural policies with direct, environmental impact; specifically, we focus on commodity…
- © 2013 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society
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