What is agriculture policy?

By Jonathan Helton 

This post dives into what should and should not be considered agriculture policy. In the post, I have included some useful questions, some definitions, and a rubric you can use when running Topicality. 

This question is helpful:

Does the case involve a federal tax, regulation, or subsidy that directly interacts with the daily operations of farmers or ranchers? 

Lots of taxes, regulations, and subsidies affect farmers and ranchers but they also affect physicians and Brazilian trade firms. An amendment to the question might be useful: 

Does the case involve a federal tax, regulation or subsidy that directly interacts with the daily operations of farmers or ranchers — and is not broadly applicable to other sectors of the economy?

But what do the dictionaries, experts and farmers say agricultural policy means? 

Agricultural policy describes a set of laws and actions relating to domestic agriculture, implemented by governments with the goal of achieving a specific outcome in agricultural product markets. — Agriculture.Institute 

Agricultural policy in the United States is a complex and evolving web of governmental interventions in output markets, input markets, trade, public-good investments, renewable and exhaustible natural resources, regulation of externalities, education, and the marketing and distribution of food products. — ScienceDirect

A course of action adopted by government or some other organization that determines how to deal with matters involving the cultivation of land; raising crops; feeding, breeding and raising livestock or poultry; and other farming issues. — General Multilingual Environmental Thesaurus

In short, nothing too helpful. 

The Science Direct definition is the most specific, but it includes “regulation of externalities” and “marketing… of food products.” Does that indicate that environmental regulations on farms qualify? What about food labeling laws?

But there’s also a government definition: 

U.S. agricultural policy—often simply called farm policy—generally follows a 5-year legislative cycle that produces a wide-ranging “Farm Bill.” Farm Bills, or Farm Acts, govern programs related to farming, food and nutrition, conservation, and rural communities, as well as aspects of bioenergy and forestry. — USDA’s Economic Research Service

This definition has the clearest brightline. Debaters tend to give weight to government sources, too, which strengthens it. 

It isn’t perfect, though. The definition excludes the renewable fuel standard — yay! — but it would also leave out many policies administered by the FDA or EPA that relate to farming. Likewise, it includes SNAP and the various rural development programs authorized under the Farm Bill that might not be considered topical on their own.

So where does that leave us?  

With a rubric:

>> If the case changes taxes, subsidies or regulations on actual farming or ranching, it is topical. 

Federally subsidized crop insurance, federal pesticide and antibiotic rules, right-to-repair laws for farm equipment, H-2A visas and agricultural marketing orders are squarely topical.

>> If the case relates to a program in the Farm Bill, it is defensible. 

This might include USDA price support for agricultural exports, meat inspections and agriculture-specific conservation programs. But nutrition programs and rural broadband subsidies might not be topical if they fail the question I asked earlier. 

>> If the case relates to the FDA, EPA or another federal entity, it might need some explanation. 

FDA food safety regulations, EPA emission rules specific to farms and ranches and NOAA rules for ocean fish farming might be topical. You will need to explain how they relate to one of the items in the Science Direct definition. 

>> If the case is the RFS, it is not topical (Author’s note: This reflects my view only, and not that of the Nile as an entity). 

Let me explain: The renewable fuel standard operates as a directive that the United States use an increasing amount of biofuel every year. It says nothing about where the fuel must come from. 

Typically, corn grown in the midwest supplies most biofuel demand. But a biofuel refiner could clear-cut a forest in Australia or pull seaweed out of the ocean and convert the biomass into biofuel to meet demand. The renewable fuel standard also has a mandate for advanced biofuel, which can involve crops but also things such as used cooking oil. 

Sorry to everyone looking at running this case — it is only topical by effect. 

(Author’s note: Also, the RFS was passed as part of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. That does not doom the case in itself, but paired with the USDA definition above it makes for a persuasive topicality attack on two fronts).