Agricultural and Food Policy, 6th edition

Drawing on the authors’ background in education and policy development, Agricultural and Food Policy, Sixth Edition provides a comprehensive treatment of domestic and international policy setting, process, options and consequences. This book goes beyond the traditional discussion of farm programs, and gets readers thinking in broader terms, by considering the many forces—globalization, technology, food safety, environment—that influence policy change. Taking an unbiased approach, this edition includes more economic theory, a new chapter on government involvement, current policy issues, and a chapter devoted to the future of agricultural and food policy. 

Presents unbiased treatment—of current policy issues and options.

• Informs readers of the most recent policy issues, such as the Doha Round of WTO negotiations, food terrorism, and budget deficits, in an objective manner.
• Allows students and professors to draw their own conclusions regarding preferred policy options.

Discusses how global forces affect U.S. policy—throughout the text.

• Creates an understanding of how U.S. policy affects stakeholders in other countries.
• Shows the importance of current WTO negotiations to policy outcomes.

NEW —Chapter 2, Rational for Government Involvement in Food and Agriculture–appears in this edition.

• Gives students a deeper understanding of the conditions leading to government involvement, the constraints on government involvement, the role of economists and the limits of economics. 

NEW —More economic theory–appears in new appendices in chapter 5 and chapter 7.

• Allows instructors flexibility in the amount of economic theory they would like to include in the course.
• Explains concepts using graphs and helps readers understand the underlying theory driving policy decisions.   

NEW —Chapter 12, Future of Agriculture and Food Policy–takes a new approach.

• Examines the impact of constituency groups and encourages readers to consider the future of agriculture and food policy. 

NEW —Discusses issues that arose from the 2002 Farm Bill–and factors affecting the 2007 Farm Bill debate.

• Keeps readers abreast of current legislation and explains policy issues in current context.