ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses agricultural policy more comprehensible to outsiders, especially readers whose curiosity about the farm sector originates from public interest goals. It offers a tour of the United States (US) farm sector, emphasizing distinctions across five agricultural industries; and summarizes government interventions in agricultural economy, unknotting the tangle of farm programs. The chapter describes economic conditions for farm operators and hired farmworkers; and introduces the advocacy coalitions that influence farm policy. Price supports played a major role in US farm policy from the 1930s through the 1970s, especially for grain and dairy industries. With a deficiency payment, the government offers to pay producers for the difference between the target price and the consumer price. To avoid the problems of promoting overproduction and distorting the equilibrium price, the government may use a direct payment, much like a welfare or social security check. Many people come to the United States from around the world to find employment as farmworkers.
