Commodity Policy Issues for the 1980s

Abstract

National food, agriculture, and trade policies operate in part through commodities. In our view, commodity policy encompasses the actions policymakers direct toward individual commodities in their attempt to influence supply, demand, price, farm income, and resource use. The instruments or provisions Executive branch policymakers use are granted by Congress through legislation. In this article we consider commodity-related developments that could occur in the 1980s and relate those developments to issues that policymakers will confront. We examine the economic pressures likely to affect producers, the instruments that policymakers may seek, and the legislative response.