Agriculture is at a critical juncture. The Food Security Act of
1985, which was intended to reduce surpluses by making American
farm products more competitive in world markets, has not yet
succeeded. Food imports have outstripped food exports. Huge grain
surpluses continue to pile up. Because many farmers and economists
fault federal agricultural policies for the current predicament,
this book examines how recent policies, like the 1985 law, have
been made and focuses on the key role that private interests play
in the policy process. Not only does Browne give us the first
comprehensive study of all of the organized interests at work in
agricultural policymaking, but he also makes an important
contribution to understanding the interaction of organized
interests in the American political process. His book should appeal
to a wide audience composed of those interested in agriculture,
policy process, and interest group behavior.
In the early 1980s, 128 separate organizations employed
Washington-based lobbyists who regularly worked to influence
agricultural policies. Many other organizations periodically
lobbied in agriculture. The general farm organizations have been
joined by commodity organizations, trade associations, corporate
spokesmen, farm activists, industry lobbyists, consumer groups,
environmentalists, and advocates of a variety of food-related
programs. Long gone are the days when the farm bloc preordained
policy outcomes and when students of American politics looked upon
agriculture as a classic example of the "iron triangle" or
self-governing subsystem of interest groups, bureaucrats, and
legislators. Now the policymaking process is fragmented by the
clamor from competing organized interest groups, and the policy
makers responded by fashioning piecemeal policy with no seeming
thought to unity of purpose. In an attempt to throw light on what
actually happens in Washington, Browne explains what groups and
interests are active in agricultural policymaking, what strategy
and tactics they employ, and why some have more influence than
others. One of Browne's conclusions is that a surprising number of
agricultural issues are uninfluenced by the interest groups because
they ignore them.
For nearly a decade William P. Browne has studied the major farm
organizations, congressional hearings and records related to
agricultural issues, and the American Agricultural Movement. But
perhaps his richest source of information has been extensive
interviews with lobbyists, executives, and grassroots activists
during and just after the 1985 farm bill debates. In the course of
his research, Browne sought to learn how interest groups behave in
deciding their policy priorities and how this behavior actually
relates to influence over the desired policy outcomes.
General
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