In the longer term, continuing improvement in global economic growth will lead to stronger U.S. exports, further gains in agricultural commodity prices, and rising farm income. For food prepared at home, the CPI in 2001 is projected to rise 2 to 2.5 percent while food away from home is expected up 2.5 to 3 percent. The downward trend in share of household disposable personal income spent on food should continue. Continuing large meat production, lackluster growth in exports, and a slowing domestic economy may pressure meat prices downward. The Commission recommended specific legislative approaches to assure an income safety net for producers, enhance risk management options, support conservation and environmentally beneficial practices, improve agricultural trade opportunities, revise individual commodity policies, and assist small and limited-resource farms.
Major initiatives are underway to change the structure of farming and to make it more efficient.
Japans new policy stance explicitly recognizes that food security depends on continued imports and available stocks, as well as on maintaining domestic production capability. They have also adopted various business strategies to manage buyer demand for greater volume, broader product lines, and year-round availability. Smart growth is a catch-all phrase to describe a number of land use policies to influence the pattern and density of new development. Among the strategies that could have important implications for local agriculture are the concentration of growth in selected areas within specific boundaries and permanent preservation of farmland. While smart growth policies have implications for farmland outside as well as inside designated growth areas, landowners most likely to experience the effects are those in close proximity to existing population centers or planned growth areas.