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RCED-93-48R 1 (1992-10-07)

handle is hein.gao/gaobackdl0001 and id is 1 raw text is: General Accounting Office Washington, D.C. 20548 Resources, Community, and Economic Development Division B-250229 147730 October 7, 1992 The Honorable Paul S. Sarbanes Chairman, Joint Economic Committee United States Senate Dear Mr. Chairman: In response to your March 16, 1992, letter and subsequent discussions with your office, we examined research on the extent to which existing farm commodity programs, which rely heavily on chemical inputs, create barriers to the use of alternative, less environmentally intrusive agricultural practices. These alternative practices are known as sustainable, regenerative, organic, or low-input agriculture. Because the Congress uses the term sustainable agriculture to refer to these types of practices, we use this term throughout this letter. In our work, we relied heavily on previous reports on this issue1--as updated by discussions with agricultural experts, such as academic researchers--and a review of additional literature on the subject produced since our earlier work was completed. As a separate matter, we also attempted, at your request, to identify research on the broader issues of the impact of farm commodity programs on rural communities. In summary, considerable research exists on the extent to which farm programs present barriers to the use of sustainable agriculture. This research, which formed the basis for our earlier report, and most of the researchers and policy experts we spoke with, agree that federal farm 'See Alternative Agriculture: Federal Incentives and Farmers' Opinions (GAO/PEMD-90-12, Feb. 16, 1990) and Sustainable Agriculture: Program Management, Accomplishments, and Opportunities (GAO/RCED-92-233, Sept. 16, 1992). GAOIRCED-93-48R, Farm Program Research ( C7 C:. _ -, 1,/ H 7&

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