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A Critique of Federal Agricultural Programs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 April 2015

E. C. Pasour Jr.
E. C. Pasour Jr.*
Affiliation:
North Carolina State University
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Extract

Criticism of current agricultural programs is coming from within and outside agriculture. Secretary Bergland in recent “grassroots hearings” has called for new approaches in agricultural policy in which recipient benefits do not hinge on size of farming operation. Hjort suggests that despite widespread agreement on the objective of encouraging the family farm, “the cumulative effect of our farm programs may well have been to hasten the concentration of the farm sector….” (Hjort, p. 748). Producers of flue-cured tobacco voted overwhelmingly in December 1979 to continue a program but are upset about high quota rental prices. Outside agriculture, consumers are unhappy about the effects of farm programs on prices of milk, sugar, and other products. Students of the political process are concerned about the effects of the use of state power by small, politically powerful groups to secure economic gains.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics , Volume 12 , Issue 1 , July 1980 , pp. 29 - 37
Copyright
Copyright © Southern Agricultural Economics Association 1980

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