Agriculture as the Problem: New Agendas and New Opportunities

Abstract

Agriculture was once seen as the solution to many of the nation's problems. A strong agricultural sector translated into a strong America. Kohl et al. have presented four reasons for the past public commitment to agriculture. First, the agricultural sector has had considerable political power; second, there has been a widely held perception that farmers were economically disadvantaged relative to the rest of society; third, for many decades the growth of rural economies has been dependent on healthy agricultural sectors; and, finally, information produced by colleges of agriculture has been seen as a public good worthy of support by general tax revenues.