New Voices in Farm and Food Policy Speak about U.S. Farm Structure

This study investigates the attitudes of about fifteen nonfarm food and agricultural interest groups toward current issues related to the structure of U.S. farms and agriculture in general. Forty some questions were asked of representatives of Washington, D.C.-based political interest groups in a personal interview setting. Topics covered include, among others, commodity programs, increasing land values, farm size and technology, nonfarm employment in rural areas, energy production and water use in the western U.S. environmental concerns, alternative agriculture, landownership and the organization of farming, food costs, and nonfamily corporate farmers. The kinds of interest groups interviewed included world hunger, consumer, environmental, rural life, religious relief groups, and general food policy research groups. Study intended only as feasibility study for possible future expansion, thus findings are at best suggestive, although illuminating.