ABSTRACT
Many areas of policymaking, including agriculture, have long confronted a host of difficulties that impede both the exploration of alternatives and the justification of decisions. Much that policymakers would like to know is not known when it is needed, and may never be known. The vastness of substantive and impassioned disagreement over matters of policy has contributed greatly to the fragmentation of policymaking in agriculture. The result is agricultural policies that are doubtful in their consistency or coherence and hence rarely effective. Proponents of alternative forms of agriculture have become less willing to remain on the political fringes and more concerned to find realistic ways to implement their ideas in mainstream agriculture. Within the agricultural establishment there seems to be an increasing desire to include a wider range of voices in policymaking and to include them in more meaningful ways.
