Understanding Agriculture Policy
How you can be involved

Policy is a course of action or guiding principle pursued by the government. It influences or determines the actions and decisions of government. Agriculture and food policy involves the principles that guide government involvement in the production; the resources utilized in production; the marketing and consumption of food; and the conditions under which people live in rural America. For example, marketing includes both domestic and international aspects of the agricultural economy. Thus, when considering market policy issues, you must consider the broad issue of global trade. That is, foreign policy, nutrition, and environmental policy often have pervasive economic implications that these become major considerations in agriculture and food policy decisions.

Agriculture policy involves numerous interrelated and highly controversial issues. Thus, the agricultural committees of the Congress have a major impact on government policy affecting the rural economy and the conditions under which farmers and all rural residents live.

A policy position indicates a conclusion as to what the role of government ought to be with respect to a particular problem or a set of circumstances. Policy positions are derived from the interaction of facts, beliefs, values, and goals that are held by individuals. The development of a policy position generally evolves, and involves, a process of education and compromise for the common good.

Facts describe what is. If it can be objectively verified, rational people will tend to agree on a fact. Facts are indistinct in social sciences such as economics. For example, when comparing the income of farmers and non-farmers, should we include income earned from off the farm? This example illustrates that the facts may not be definitive.

The inability to be definitive does not mean that economics are useless. It does mean that a need exists to identify, analyze, and evaluate economic facts, relationships, and impacts. Different perspectives on facts need to be understood and evaluated when analyzing a policy issue. In addition, factual knowledge is important to objectivity in making policy decisions. Thus, research and education regarding facts and relationships are very important to the policy process.

Beliefs describe what people think is reality, thus involve mental conviction, acceptance, confidence, or faith that a proposition is true. Beliefs can be based on fact, partially based on fact, or have no basis on fact. It is generally possible to sort out beliefs that have a factual base and those that do not.

Many policy disagreements arise when beliefs are based only partially of facts. Such beliefs are not only a source of disagreement; they can also be deceptive. Policy disagreements frequently have their roots in mythology or notions that are based more on tradition, values, or convenience than on fact.

Values are conceptions of what should be. They provide an image of what is good and right and thus specify that some things are better than others. Values indicate what is desirable. They provide justification for proposed or actual behavior. Values are influenced by beliefs and by facts. Values also influence beliefs.

The agrarian ideology, with its declaration of moral superiority and its blue-print for democracy, was highly acceptable to the American people of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Out of this ideology grew a body of rhetoric, known as the agricultural creed, that has garnered widespread support for farm programs. The articles of the agricultural creed include the following: (1) Farmers are good citizens, and a high percentage of the population should be on farms, (2) Farming is not only a business but a way of life, (3) Farming should be a family enterprise, (4) The land should be owned by the person who tills it, (5) It is good to make two blades of grass grow where one grew before, (6) Anyone who wants to farm should be able to do so, and (7) A farmer should be his own boss.

Even today, despite monumental changes in U.S. society, it would be a mistake to suggest that the agrarian ideology and its associated agricultural creed are dead. Its application can still be seen in political campaign rhetoric extolling the family farm and lauding the farmer as the backbone of democracy. It can be seen in the tendency to view farmers as a homogeneous body having similar problems, justifying the need for a single national farm policy. Agrarianism serves as the foundation for many of the values still held by farmers and their organizations.

Goals are desired ultimate end results or objectives. A goal is the purpose toward which an endeavor is directed. Goals are long term in nature. The inability of groups of individuals to achieve their goals may lead to visible dissatisfaction, agitation, and the eventual return to government for assistance in goal achievement.

The choice of goals is influenced by a person?s values and beliefs. Whether the inability to achieve a goal becomes a public issue depends on the importance attached to it, the influence of the group identifying with the goal,

and the extent to which the goal is not being achieved under current government and private initiatives.

Farmers hold a wide variety of goals and some are more important than others. Persons belonging to the same organization tend to have common goals, values, and beliefs. However, even within an organization, the goals, values, and beliefs of all individuals are not the same, nor are they held with the same intensity. To arrive at a cohesive policy position, compromise among the members of a group with respect to goals, values, or beliefs is frequently necessary. The willingness of the members to compromise is a source of strength.

For you to become effectively involved in the policy process: (1) become familiar with the policy setting, (2) define your goals, (3) align yourself with an organization having similar goals, and (4) become proactive.

For more information on this and other subjects, visit the University of Missouri Extension Center in your county or, call me, Bob Wells, at the Pike County Extension office, Courthouse, Bowling Green, MO, (573) 324-5464. University of Missouri Extension programs and services are open to all and most are free or at a nominal charge.