USA Farm Subsidies

Describe/Description of Farm policy

Farm policy is characterized by its simultaneous exceptionality and centrality Exceptionality is to be found in the persistence of high levels of subsidy of agricultural production in many countries of the world, ranging, from Japan to the United States. It is also to be found in the high sensitivity of consumers to any perceived risk associated with food, even if the actual level of risk is much lower than that encountered in many everyday activities. 'You are what you eat' is a frequently repeated mantra and citizens expect wholesome and affordable food to be readily available. 'Unlike other commodities … food isn't viewed, read, played or worn. It enters the body and becomes part of the consumer'. As new issues such as obesity, originating in health policy, enter into discussions of farm policy, the centrality of the policy domain is enhanced. The controversy about genetically modified crops has also enhanced the visibility of discussions of farm policy. However, although farm policy has a number of special features, it is not so distinctive that it cannot be used to illustrate more general points about the policy-making process. It is evident that many of the processes of internationalization and globalization observable in many other policy sectors can also be found in agriculture and food, even if there is considerable uncertainty and much contestation about the nature and extent of the changes taking place (Baldwin, pp.61).

What is our USA farm policy

The first USA farm policy was the Agricultural Act of 1933, a key piece of later New Deal legislation introducing several concepts important to U.S. agricultural policy ever since. The full list of farm bills follows:

1933: Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933

1938: Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938

1948: Agricultural Act of 1948

1949: Agricultural Act of 1949

1954: Agricultural Act of 1954

1956: Agricultural Act of 1956

1965: Food and Agricultural Act of 1965

1970: Agricultural Act of 1970

1973: Agricultural and Consumer Protection Act of 1973

1977: Food and Agriculture Act of 1977

1981: Agriculture and Food Act of 1981

1985: Food Security Act of 1985

1990: Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990

1996: Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996

2002: Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002

2008: Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008

The 1933 farm bill created the Agricultural Adjustment Administration, a New Deal agency that oversaw agricultural subsidies. Controversial, misunderstood, and perhaps misused since its introduction, the 1933 bill introduced the idea ...