ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates farming characteristics that affect sustainability, different federal policies that might change the way farmers farm, some of the changes under the 1990 Farm Bill, incentives to change which are on the horizon, and where federal policy might be headed. Federal policies have had other goals such as improving rural conditions, increasing rural income, improving the technical efficiency of farming operations, and conserving natural resources as part of the base of agricultural productivity. Sustainable agriculture involves less use of off-farm inputs while introducing new management and cropping systems that better utilize on-farm resources. These systems allow continued farming over the long term with sustained productivity and minimal stress on the environment. Government commodity programs in the past have rewarded farmers for producing the primary commercial food and feed grain crops. Pesticides and fertilizer would be increasingly used whenever possible to substitute for relatively more expensive inputs even without further incentives from government programs.
