ABSTRACT
The system is largely a free-enterprise, private system in contrast to systems in many other countries. In addition to affecting the marketing system, the federal government affects grain prices through various programs. Public policy is a special kind of group action designed to achieve certain aspirations held by members of society. Architects of US farm policy, particularly since the late 1920s, have been guided by their attitudes toward political and social stability, economic stability, and a particular type of economic organization, economic growth, equality of opportunity, and a desire to share US agricultural abundance with other less fortunate people. Thus, supply conditions and worldwide inflation, fueled by expansionary monetary and fiscal policy in the United States, contributed to higher grain prices. The risk of carrying stocks is largely transferred from farmers and the grain-marketing system to the government. When the government guarantees farmers a price the market price for their grain, larger production is stimulated.
