Agricultural Policy
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.
Latest in Gardner Policy Series
The Market Facilitation Program: A New Direction in Public Agricultural Policy?
On November 15, USDA announced issuance of the second tranche of Market Facilitation Program (MFP) payments for 2019. As of November 18, 2019, USDA reports that MFP 2019 has paid $6.898 billion of the announced $14.5 billion; MFP 2018 is…
Release of 2018 Farm Bill What-If Tool
The 2018 Farm Bill What-If Tool has been released. This Microsoft Excel spreadsheet will estimate Price Loss Coverage (PLC) and Agricultural Risk Coverage at the county level (ARC-CO) for specific prices and yields that a user enters. Currently, the tool…
Update on the Gardner- farmdoc Payment Calculator
The Gardner Agriculture Policy Program in cooperation with the National Center of Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) in developing the second release of the ARC-CO/PLC Payment Calculator that will provide estimated payments from the Agriculture Risk Coverage, county option (ARC-CO) and Price…
Which Program Paid More Under the 2014 Farm Bill: ARC-CO or PLC?
The Farm Service Agency recently released 2018 payment rates for both Agricultural Risk Coverage at the County Level (ARC-CO) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC). With this release, yearly payments for 2014 to 2018 are available so that average payments from…
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 State of Soybean in Africa: Soybean Prices
Obtaining soybean price data at either the farm gate or wholesale levels remains elusive in Sub-Saharan Africa because markets are immature, the crop is new, and data collection is relatively costly. Additionally, regional within-country price data are especially hard to…
The Conservation Question, Part 4: An Overview of Acres
Throughout its history, conservation policy can be understood, in part, as representing attempts at achieving balance. Policies have involved balancing the demands for producing crops with the limits of, and impacts on, natural resources; they have also tried to achieve…
The Conservation Question, Part 3: Lessons in Settling Dust
Drought continues to hit the Great Plains on a cyclical basis yet the region remains a key component of American agriculture, consisting of nearly 10% of national production. To date, the region has not, however, produced another Dust Bowl. The…
The Conservation Question, Part 2: Lessons Written in Dust
The images are indelible, captured in novels, history books, songs and old black-and-white photographs. During the mid-1930s, as Americans were trying to claw their way out of the depths of the Great Depression a severe drought triggered massive dust storms…