Locke friend E.C. Pasour Jr. tackles “farm policy” in American Conservatism: An Encyclopedia (ISI Books, 2006).
Pasour reminds us that U.S. agricultural programs have changed little since the days of the New Deal, when conditions were much different for farmers.
Among his findings:
Government farm programs also encourage favor-seeking activity at the expense of profit-seeking activity. Profit-seeking through the entrepreneurial market process is socially beneficial because it leads to an increased output of goods and services. Favor-seeking, in contrast, refers to attempts by individuals and groups to increase their wealth through income transfers, credit subsidies, and other government programs. The spending of money for lobbying, campaign contributions, and so on to achieve these restrictions on competition is socially wasteful because the result is a reduction in output of goods and services. Consequently, farm program benefits to the farm sector come at the expense of consumers and taxpayers. In addition to an expenditure of some $70 billion per year on U.S. farm programs, including subsidized food programs, food costs to consumers are increased — sometimes substantially — as is the case for sugar, dairy products, and peanuts.
