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 Conservation Question, Part 1: An Introduction
The 2018 Farm Bill produced a rare setback for natural resources conservation policy. The current suite of conservation programs are all built out of the landmark Food Security Act of 1985, which created the Conservation Reserve Program and conservation compliance;…
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…
Choosing Between ARC-CO and PLC
This article discusses four key elements to consider when choosing between Agricultural Risk Coverage at the County Level (ARC-CO) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC): 1) expected payments, 2) type of coverage, 3) payment limits, and 4) SCO availability. A detailed…
Organic Farming, 2017 US Census of Agriculture
Organic production is one of the most discussed forms of differentiated production within US agriculture. Differentiated production is a product with a unique set of attribute(s) demanded by a market segment willing to pay for the attribute(s). This brief article…
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 State of Soybean in Africa: Soybean Costs of Production
We discuss in Goldsmith and Montesdeoca (2017) the productivity of soybean systems in the tropics. Tropical soybean yield and profitability can compare favorably to the production systems of the temperate Midwest US and the sub tropics of southern Brazil and…
The Conservation Question, Part 1: An Introduction
The 2018 Farm Bill produced a rare setback for natural resources conservation policy. The current suite of conservation programs are all built out of the landmark Food Security Act of 1985, which created the Conservation Reserve Program and conservation compliance;…
Changing the Rules, Part 2: Ambiguity’s Alchemy
The Supreme Court considers ambiguity in the statute to indicate that Congress delegated relatively broad interpretive authority to the agency; the resulting interpretation is to be given deference by the courts. If ambiguity opens the door for an agency to…
Changing the Rules: Reviewing Agency Authority to Rewrite Regulations, Part 1
From tariffs to immigration, environmental and renewable fuel regulations—not to mention creating billions in payments for farmers while cutting billions in low income food assistance—the Trump Administration has been extraordinarily aggressive in rewriting federal regulations. While not unique to this…