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The Future of US Farm Policy

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  • Vincent H. Smith
  • Joseph W. Glauber

Abstract

The farm bill is the primary legislative vehicle for federal food and agricultural policies in the United States that is renewed roughly once every five years. Most current farm bill subsidy and other domestic support programmes for agriculture have their origins in legislation introduced in the 1930s to alleviate poverty among farm households during the Great Depression. Although US farm households have enjoyed higher incomes and wealth than the average US family for many years, legislation to support agricultural commodity prices and to increase farm incomes has persisted. A new farm bill offers the US Congress an opportunity to reform agricultural subsidy policies. But if recent history is a guide, what will emerge is likely to resemble much of what was in the 2014 bill. As was the case with that bill, maintaining the status quo will represent a missed opportunity to cut farm subsidies and make agricultural programmes more market oriented, and be unlikely to improve trade relations for the United States in the context of its commitments under current World Trade Organization agreements. In many ways, agricultural policy in the United States seems to be firmly marching back to the past rather than looking to the future. La loi agricole, renouvelée environ tous les cinq ans, est le principal instrument législatif des politiques alimentaires et agricoles fédérales aux États‐Unis. La plupart des subventions de la loi agricole actuelle et des autres programmes de soutien interne à l'agriculture trouvent leur origine dans la législation introduite dans les années 1930 pour réduire la pauvreté des ménages agricoles pendant la Grande Dépression. Bien que depuis de nombreuses années les ménages agricoles américains aient des revenus et une richesse supérieurs à ceux de la famille américaine moyenne, la législation visant à soutenir les prix des produits agricoles et à augmenter les revenus agricoles persiste. Un nouveau projet de loi sur l'agriculture offre au Congrès américain une occasion de réformer les politiques de subventions à l'agriculture. Mais si l'histoire récente est un guide, ce qui va émerger ressemblera probablement en grande partie à ce que contenait le projet de loi de 2014. Comme c’était le cas, le maintien du statu quo représentera une occasion manquée de réduire les subventions agricoles et de rendre les programmes agricoles plus axés sur le marché et il est peu probable que les relations commerciales des États‐Unis s'améliorent dans le cadre des engagements pris dans les accords actuels à l'Organisation mondiale du commerce. À bien des égards, la politique agricole des États‐Unis semble fermement revenir au passé plutôt que de regarder vers l'avenir. Das Agrargesetz der USA (Farm Bill), das etwa alle fünf Jahre erneuert wird, ist das wichtigste gesetzgebende Instrument für die Ernährungs‐ und Agrarpolitik der USA. Die meisten der aktuellen gesetzlichen Agrarsubventionen und andere interne Stützungsprogramme für die Landwirtschaft haben ihren Ursprung in Gesetzen, die in den 1930er Jahren eingeführt wurden, um die Armut der landwirtschaftlichen Haushalte während der Weltwirtschaftskrise zu lindern. Obwohl die US‐Agrarhaushalte seit vielen Jahren über ein höheres Einkommen und Vermögen als eine durchschnittliche US‐Familie verfügen, gibt es weiterhin Gesetze zur Subventionierung der landwirtschaftlichen Rohstoffpreise und zur Steigerung der landwirtschaftlichen Einkommen. Ein neues Agrargesetz böte dem US‐Kongress die Möglichkeit, die Politik der Agrarsubventionen zu reformieren. Wenn aber die jüngste Geschichte ein Wegweiser ist, dann wird das, was dabei herauskäme, wahrscheinlich dem Gesetzesentwurf von 2014 stark ähneln. Wie bei diesem Gesetzentwurf wird die Beibehaltung des Status quo eine verpasste Gelegenheit darstellen, Agrarsubventionen abzubauen und die Förderprogramme stärker marktorientiert zu gestalten. Und es ist zudem unwahrscheinlich, dass sich die Handelsbeziehungen der Vereinigten Staaten im Rahmen ihrer Verpflichtungen aus den laufenden WTO‐Abkommen verbessern würden. In vielerlei Hinsicht scheint die Agrarpolitik in den Vereinigten Staaten entschlossen in die Vergangenheit zurückzukehren und nicht in die Zukunft zu blicken.

Suggested Citation

  • Vincent H. Smith & Joseph W. Glauber, 2019. "The Future of US Farm Policy," EuroChoices, The Agricultural Economics Society, vol. 18(1), pages 42-48, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:eurcho:v:18:y:2019:i:1:p:42-48
    DOI: 10.1111/1746-692X.12223
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David Orden & Carl Zulauf, 2015. "Political Economy of the 2014 Farm Bill," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 97(5), pages 1298-1311.
    2. Smith, Vincent H. & Glauber, Joseph & Dismukes, Robert, 2016. "Rent Dispersion in the US Agricultural Insurance Industry:," IFPRI discussion papers 1532, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    3. repec:aei:rpaper:34533 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Anton Bekkerman & Eric J Belasco & Vincent H Smith & Chris McIntoshEditor, 2019. "Does Farm Size Matter? Distribution of Crop Insurance Subsidies and Government Program Payments across U.S. Farms," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 41(3), pages 498-518.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    1. David Orden, 2020. "Resilience and Vulnerabilities of the North American Food System during the Covid‐19 Pandemic," EuroChoices, The Agricultural Economics Society, vol. 19(3), pages 13-19, December.
    2. John C. Beghin & Heidi Schweizer, 2021. "Agricultural Trade Costs," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 43(2), pages 500-530, June.
    3. Matthew Stuart & Cindy Yu & David A. Hennessy, 2023. "The Impact of Stocks on Correlations between Crop Yields and Prices and on Revenue Insurance Premiums using Semiparametric Quantile Regression," Papers 2308.11805, arXiv.org, revised Jun 2024.
    4. Ruggiero Rippo & Simone Cerroni, 2023. "Farmers' participation in the Income Stabilisation Tool: Evidence from the apple sector in Italy," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(1), pages 273-294, February.
    5. Simone Pieralli & Ignacio Pérez Domínguez & Christian Elleby & Thomas Chatzopoulos, 2021. "Budgetary Impacts of Adding Agricultural Risk Management Programmes to the CAP," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 72(2), pages 370-387, June.
    6. Simone Severini & Cinzia Zinnanti & Valeria Borsellino & Emanuele Schimmenti, 2021. "EU income stabilization tool: potential impacts, financial sustainability and farmer’s risk aversion," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 9(1), pages 1-21, December.

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