ABSTRACT
The Federal Agriculture Improvement Reform (FAIR) Act introduced fundamental changes in US farm policy, in the direction of further de-coupling income support from production. The process of developing the Clinton administration farm bill recommendations in 1995 was very similar to the process employed by the Bush administration in 1990. The House Agriculture Committee was slow to get organized, so unaccustomed were the Republicans to majority party status. Congressman Roberts and the Agriculture Committee majority staff had many discussions about how to ensure maximum benefits for farmers in the prevailing atmosphere of fiscal stringency. The Senate Agriculture Committee worked through the August recess trying to reach common ground on meeting the requirements of the budget resolution. The administration viewed agricultural policy through the lenses of the Competitive Agriculture paradigm, but felt constrained to adjust policy gradually. Congressman Roberts introduced in January the agricultural provisions from the failed budget reconciliation as the free-standing Agricultural Market Transition Act.
