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![handle is hein.amenin/aeiaeml0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Key Points
C Grcwing political pressures for federal subsidies and ragulations to shift Food-suppiy
incen;ves tow aad favored farms and Farm p rac ces may divert food producers tram
meeting the needs of the vast majority of families,
Organic and small local farms produce foods with cdty attrbutes that ncreasingly
appueai to eiathy consumers, who can access and afford these products wvithout subsi-
dies or regulations that benefit the producers,
mGoverr' s role in food poliy should be promotino public goods such as ;mproved
environmental outcomes, nutrition, and food security forthe mostvulnerable adults and
chil dre. Farm- and foo-poiy mission creep is probleratic when the oroducts bein
subsidized are onI a M dabe some.
Nine decades after the passage of the New Deal,
many tarm-subsidy anEd] regulatory programs con--
tinue to search for a sound public policy rationale.'
It seems income transfer from taxpayers and con-
sumers to tarn operators and asset owners,
roughly in proportion to the farms' production of
tavored commodities, no longer commands the
support it once did. However, as the United States
transitions from traditional price and income-
support programs, new interest grotups seek to
divern federal resources from public goods such as
improving environmental outcomes, reducing
food fraud, promoting nutrition and food safety,
and offering income assistance and access to
healthy diets to those famibles most vulnerable to
food insecurity.
To be clear, this report does not object to poli-
cies that cost-effectively improve tarm animal
treatment, food safety, and food quality; mitigate
climate change; or advance other worthy public
goals. Those policy objectives have broad support.
The problem is special government favors for farm
practices or farms that produce a tny, amount of
the nation's farm output and food supply that gen-
erally costs much more than conventional farm
produce, with no evidence that the favored farms
and practices contribute to accepted public-good
objectives,
Likewise, there is no issue with allowing vigor-
ous market competition to deliver farm products
with attributes for which consumers are willing to
pay. 1owever, government should avoid tilting the
scales of competition toward product attributes
siat politicians and influential activists favor
instead of letting suppliers respond directly and
effectively to consumers.
Similar concerns relate to many favored farm
characteristics, farm practices, and food attributes.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.amenin/aeiaeml0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)