Toward a Global Food
and Agriculture Policy

Table of Contents

I. Overarching Objectives

II. A Global Approach to Food and Agriculture Policy

Need for a global food and agriculture policy
Components of a global food and agriculture policy

• Third World economic development

• Food safety

• Food security

• Sharing germ plasm

• Conservation and the environment

• International trade

• Coping with excess supply

• Summing up

III. Price and Income Policy

Agriculture's uniqueness
The Secretary of Agriculture as surrogate CEO
Flaws in the 1996 farm bill
Choices in farm policy

• Three choices

Preferred policy options

• Farmer-owned reserves

• Land idling

• Minimum price supports

IV. The Structural Transformation of the Agricultural Sector

Concentration in input supply and output processing companies
Effect of contracts
The "deadly combination"
Vertical integration

Solutions

• Antitrust oversight

• Collective action by farmers

• Reform of contract practices

• More germ plasm in the public domain

• Barriers to entry

V. Resource Conservation

VI. Strategies to Revitalize Rural America

A federal policy that integrates agriculture and rural development
Money, farm programs, and rural development
Supporting rural entrepreneurship
Integrating community revitalization into existing policy
Conservation and rural development
The "New Homestead Opportunity Act"

References

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