Page 74 - Spring2020
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All Thumbs Book Reviews





                              Agricultural Policy in Disarray          current policies predominantly benefit special
                              Vincent H. Smith, Joseph W. Glauber, and   interest groups. Second, although the policies
                              Barry K. Goodwin, Editors                advocated by environmental groups receive
                              American Enterprise Institute            some traction in current laws, these laws mostly
                                                                       seek to pay farmers to not do things. Third,
                                 Imagine being an investigative journalist  farm policy pays little attention to consumers,
                              tasked with digging into the latest political  even though they are paying for these programs
                              scandal. You know your subject is dirty, but  through their taxes. Finally, subsidies are pri-
                              the more you mine, the more disturbing and  marily directed to relatively well-off farms and
                              sleazier it gets, until you ultimately discover  farm businesses—those who would generally be
                              the full scope of the corruption and depravity  fine without the help of U.S. taxpayers.
                              of your subject.                             The book’s essays cover the gamut of agri-
                                 This is a little bit like studying American  cultural concerns, beginning with crop insur-
                              agricultural policy. It’s incredibly depressing.  ance and subsidy payments. Several essays delve
                              The more you learn, the more you realize just  into the details of the specific subsidy programs
                              how nonsensical it all is, from every standpoint:  for sugar, dairy, cotton and peanuts. Volume II
                              economically, environmentally and societally.  gets into the other half of the farm bill—SNAP
                              Well, except from the perspective of a few spe-  and other food-aid programs for the poor—as
                              cial interest groups—it makes a lot of sense for  well as agricultural research programs, conser-
                              them. Dr. Vincent H. Smith, one of the editors of  vation issues and the regulation of commodity
                              a new two-volume set of essays on farm policy,  markets and international trade.
                              Agricultural Policy in Disarray (APD), seems   Crop insurance serves as a microcosm of
                              upbeat in his YouTube videos and sometimes  the overall problems with farm policy. APD
                              cracks corny jokes. He’s made the decision to  reveals the following:
                              laugh rather than to cry. We shouldn’t blame
                              him—one has to cope somehow.             •   In 1980, crop insurance covered about 15
                                 APD is a collection of nineteen essays about   percent of insurable lands. Over the years,
                              different aspects of current federal agricultural   the amount of the premium that the federal
                      U.S.    policy. Although it is published by the Ameri-  government pays has risen. Today, about 90

             agricultural     can Enterprise Institute, a conservative think   percent of insurable lands participate.
            policies are      tank, this book largely addresses concerns that  •   Private companies administer the actual
                                                                           insurance policies, but the government pays
                              everyone who is committed to regenerative
                  a near-     agriculture should share. From the libertarians   70 percent of the premiums.
                textbook      to Trump voters to Green New Deal supporters  •   The program is a money-maker for farm-
               definition     among us, if we’re for ecological farming, we   ers, not a risk-reduction tool. On average,
                                                                           farmers receive two dollars for every one
                              should support the two central premises of these
                of crony      volumes: current federal agricultural programs   dollar they “invest” in insurance payments.
           capitalism—        “poorly serve both farmers and the American   Crop insurance actually encourages high-
          the funneling       public”; and “by and large, U.S. agricultural   risk practices, particularly by incentivizing
                                                                           growers to utilize marginal lands. There are
                              policies now merely transfer dollars from
        of government         taxpayers to owners of financially sound farm   more effective ways to manage farm risk,
               aid to the     businesses.” This is a near-textbook definition of   including—most importantly—employing
            already rich      crony capitalism—the funneling of government   •   regenerative and ecological methods.
                                                                           Farm businesses receive, on average, 5.6 bil-
                              aid to the already rich and powerful.
         and powerful.           APD presents four major findings. First,   lion dollars of taxpayer money in subsidies
         74                                       Wise Traditions                                 SPRING 2020
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