Page 74 - Spring2020

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