Farm Consolidation and Corporate Agriculture in the United States: Historical Impacts on Farmers, Federal Policy, and Sustainable Food Production
Author: Tyler Baird
University of Michigan Ford School of Public Policy, School for Environment and Sustainability
ABSTRACT
Agriculture is a central issue in the U.S. federal policy landscape, with the next Farm Bill anticipated to allocate trillions of dollars in agricultural subsidies over the subsequent decade. However, federal farm spending disproportionately benefits large-scale industrial grain producers, presenting distinct challenges to the sustainability of American agriculture – especially in the face of climate change. However, urbanization and globalization have obscured the nature and precarity of the national food system from most consumers in the U.S. To combat farm consolidation and its negative impacts, it is necessary to clarify historical policy decisions and contexts that now entrench the status quo. This paper covers the primary moments and policy decisions that encouraged farm consolidation and continue to drive overproduction of agricultural commodities: the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938, the Agricultural Acts of 1956 and 1961, and the Agriculture and Consumer Protection Act of 1973. Massive and complex social movements informed these policy choices; with a historical perspective, we can begin to approach policy reform for improved social, economic, and environmental outcomes. I conclude by recommending subsidy spending redistribution to specialty production and rejuvenating the rural population, with considerations for recent executive cuts to agricultural support programs.