The Gardner Agriculture Policy Program is funded by the Leonard and Lila Gardner/Illinois Farm Bureau Family of Companies endowment. This generous gift is dedicated to the memory of Len Gardner, a leading voice on agricultural policy for decades. The program will coordinate and prioritize analytical and outreach efforts for farm, conservation and international trade policies, elevating the University of Illinois’ voice in the national debate.
The Policy Toolbox includes an online tool giving estimates of Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC) payments. An Excel spreadsheet provided scenario analysis and yield updating options. YouTube videos describe commodity title alternatives and provide advice on choosing between the alternatives. Written articles describe alternatives and provide advice for choosing between the alternatives.
Latest in Gardner Policy Series
The Distribution of CFAP Payments across Commodities and States
On September 11, the USDA closed applications (except in limited circumstances) for the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP). This program was intended to compensate farmers for market losses concurrent to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. USDA projected making $16 billion in…
Reviewing USDA Revisions to the Payment Limitation and Eligibility Rules
On Monday, August 24, 2020, USDA implemented changes to the payment limitation and eligibility rules for federal farm payments enacted by Congress in the 2018 farm bill. The revisions were published in the Federal Register. This article reviews the latest…
Production Controls & Set Aside Acres, Part 1: Reviewing History
Low prices, trade conflict and a global pandemic are producing a potential perfect storm of problems for the farm economy that a flood of federal payments is unlikely to address. Whispered comments and quietly tentative questions about production controls and…
Making CFAP Applications for Grain Farms
The Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) will provide payments to producers of agricultural commodities suffering losses due to the Coronavirus and COVID-19 control measures. Herein, we discuss the CFAP application process, building on general information provided in a May 22,…
Farmdoc 20 Year Retrospective on Agricultural Trade (In Chart Form)
For some of us, 1999 doesn’t feel like it was that long ago. We were two years into the Asian financial crisis, and commodity prices were in the dumps. We were watching the release of the Matrix, living la vida…
The Conservation Question, Part 8: Interregnum and Acres
At first glance, the demise of the Soil Bank appears to have caused a break in the development of conservation policy for more than two decades; a seeming interregnum. Upon a closer look at the acres planted to the major…
The Conservation Question, Part 7: Losing the Soil Bank
The Soil Bank was enacted as part of the Agricultural Act of 1956 but it struggled, caught in the regional battle over policy and the post-war technological revolution. The Soil Bank was signed into law in late May, 1956; implementation…