| Chapter 1: | Farm Bills, Interest Groups, and Policy Change |
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the cost of emergency feeding programs low and food aid provides a market for surplus commodities (Lubben, Funk, & Dumler, 2006).
Similarly, in the 1980s and 1990s the farm lobby joined with environmental groups to promote an expanded Conservation Reserve Program and other conservation measures that, in taking land out of production, stimulated higher farm prices while also reducing soil erosion, groundwater contamination, and loss of habitat (Orden et al., 1999). Although such provisions mitigated some of the negative impacts of modernized, subsidized agriculture, this type of issue expansion also allowed the farm establishment to maintain a quorum of support for commodity crop supports, even as the number of farmers declined from 21% of the U.S. population in the 1930s to 2% in the 1990s (Dimitri, Effland, & Conklin, 2005; K. L. Robinson, 1989). Similarly, the 2002 farm bill contained title provisions not only for commodity programs but also for conservation, nutrition, rural development, forestry, energy, and animal welfare, among others—each with associated interest groups who implicitly or explicitly supported commodity programs in exchange for advancing their provisions of concern (U.S. Department of Agriculture [USDA], 2002).7
Finally, inertia has played an important role in keeping farm policy stable. The promise of agricultural subsidies raised the land value of farm properties, benefiting landowners but presenting obstacles for new or renting farmers. In addition, farmers growing up with price supports came to see them as given. As subsidies became capitalized into land values, U.S. crops became more expensive and less competitive internationally, creating a need for additional subsidies to “even the playing field” (Griswold, Slivinski, & Preble, 2006; USDA, 2006a). Not surprisingly, most policy analysts concede that it is extremely difficult to undo existing entrenched legislation (Orden et al., 1999).
Thus, as U.S. agricultural policy came to subsidize commodity crop production, it also began contributing to the environmental and social problems inherent in specialized, efficient, industrial agriculture. Whereas commodity policies were originally developed to support rural livelihoods and provide a safety net for both farmers and consumers, and though they have to some extent done so, they have also become institutionalized