Purdue's Otto Doering, who wrote a book describing the 1996 farm bill, agrees that farmers may face greater pressure to implement additional environmental controls or risk losing federal dollars. We have groups out there who will work very hard to make the next farm bill very green. They include old-line traditional conservation groups, especially groups like soil conservation groups. Agricultural policy is at a crossroads, Zulauf says. Because the economy is humming along, consumers have money to spend on the products they want.
Studies show consumers consider food purchases a lifestyle decision.
When the next farm bill is written, taxpayers should have a lot of leverage in the farm policy debate, Zulauf says. Under the Freedom to Farm Act, taxpayers have contributed more than one-quarter of net cash farm income. Meanwhile, U.S. farm commodities make up only 1.9 percent of total consumer expenditures. Total farm household income averaged more than non-farm household income throughout the 1990s, leaving farmers with no basis to argue for farm policies to alleviate rural poverty, Zulauf says. Farmers also cannot claim special treatment because they work in a high-risk business, Zulauf says.