COMMUNITY FOOD SYSTEMS AND
FEDERAL AGRICULTURAL POLICY
David B. Schweikhardt
Michigan State University
COMMUNITY FOOD SYSTEMS AND
FEDERAL AGRICULTURAL POLICY
OR
OUR FIRST POSTMODERN FARM BILL:
THE ROLE OF COMMUNITY FOOD
SYSTEMS (AND JUST ABOUT EVERY
OTHER KIND)
OR
THE CULTURE WARS & SCIENCE WARS
COME TO THE FARM BILL DEBATE
(AND CONGRESS DECLARES PEACE
AND WITHDRAWS)
JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS
The role of community food systems in federal
agricultural policy is quite limited at this time.
But the next farm bill will be the most open in
history, leaving much greater room for
participation by every kind of food system
(community and otherwise) as Congress refuses
to resolve the growing debate about the science
and culture of food. Thus, the next farm bill will
begin an era of postmodern farm and food
politics and policy.
COMMUNITY FOOD SYSTEMS AND
FEDERAL AGRICULTURAL POLICY
The place of Community Food Systems (CFS) in
the 2002 farm bill
The changing politics of food and the farm bill
A coincidence of external political factors
Food politics by other means
Postmodern politics and the farm bill
The food system, public policy, and public policy
education beyond a postmodern farm bill
THE PLACE OF COMMUNITY FOOD
SYSTEMS IN THE 2002 FARM BILL
CFS are included in:
Marketing programs
Nutrition programs
CFS are excluded from:
Commodity programs
Conservation programs
THE PLACE OF COMMUNITY FOOD
SYSTEMS IN THE 2002 FARM BILL
THE PLACE OF COMMUNITY FOOD
SYSTEMS IN THE 2002 FARM BILL
THE CHANGING POLITICS OF FOOD & THE
FARM BILL: POLITICS BY OTHER MEANS
The rising demand for specific food attributes by
consumers
+
The rising level of transaction costs in the
legislative process
+
The rising level of market concentration in
many food markets
=
More voters/consumers expressing
political preferences through market
transactions
THE CHANGING POLITICS OF FOOD & THE
FARM BILL: EXTERNAL FACTORS
The changing role of fruits and vegetables in U.S.
commodity programs
THE CHANGING ROLE OF FRUITS AND
VEGETABLES IN COMMODITY PROGRAMS
THE CHANGING POLITICS OF FOOD & THE
FARM BILL: EXTERNAL FACTORS
The changing role of fruits and vegetables in U.S.
commodity programs
Meet CFS new best friend – the WTO
CFS NEW BEST FRIEND: THE WTO AND
THE BRAZIL-U.S. COTTON CASE
CFS NEW BEST FRIEND: THE WTO AND
THE BRAZIL-U.S. COTTON CASE
THE CHANGING POLITICS OF FOOD & THE
FARM BILL: EXTERNAL FACTORS
The changing role of fruits and vegetables in U.S.
commodity programs
Meet CFS new best friend – the WTO
The obesity crisis and the future of commodity
programs
THE OBESITY CRISIS AND THE FUTURE OF
COMMODITY PROGRAMS
THE CHANGING POLITICS OF FOOD & THE
FARM BILL: POSTMODERN POLITICS
Postmodernism – a simple definition:
The philosophical viewpoint in which “All
pretense to objectivity is abandoned in favor of
the position that there are many different
[individual] standpoints, each telling a different
story about how the world is, and no one of
these stories is better than any other. Science,
[values, and any form of policy analysis are] just
one possible story.” (Curd and Cover)
THE CHANGING POLITICS OF FOOD & THE
FARM BILL: POSTMODERN POLITICS
Implications of postmodernism for U.S politics
Objectivity of value knowledge and scientific knowledge
are impossible and can even be undesirable.
All knowledge regarding policy alternatives and
consequences is subject to “encyclopedic skepticism.”
“The [postmodern] political culture, like the new popular
culture, is skeptical of certainties and fixities and
welcoming of novelties so long as they provide the
audience with the satisfactions it seeks at the moment.”
(Schier)
THE CHANGING POLITICS OF FOOD & THE
FARM BILL: POSTMODERN POLITICS
THE CHANGING POLITICS OF FOOD & THE
FARM BILL: POSTMODERN POLITICS
THE CHANGING POLITICS OF FOOD & THE
FARM BILL: POSTMODERN POLITICS
Implications for the first postmodern farm bill
Many issues regarding the science and values of food
and agriculture are becoming plagued by “encyclopedic
skepticism.”
No evidence is accepted as objective in the culture wars
and science wars – and increasingly, none is accepted in
the food and agricultural policy debates.
Congress will “settle” the culture/science wars in the next
farm bill by declaring victory and withdrawing, i.e.,
making every type of food system eligible for a wider
range of programs and letting the markets sort it out.
POLITICS AND PUBLIC POLICY
EDUCATION IN THE POSTMODERN ERA
A fundamental question: Without some shared
knowledge, how can any political system
operate?
POLITICS AND PUBLIC POLICY
EDUCATION IN A POSTMODERN ERA
POLITICS AND PUBLIC POLICY
EDUCATION IN A POSTMODERN ERA
POLITICS AND PUBLIC POLICY
EDUCATION IN A POSTMODERN ERA
A fundamental question: Without some shared
knowledge, how can any political system
operate?
“Either it is possible for man to live indefinitely with
his world out of focus [and unknowable] or it is
not. I suspect that it is not, that a will-to-order
and orientation is fundamental in the human
makeup. If so, the Postmodern period, like all
intellectual epochs that preceded it, will turn out
to be a transition to a still different perspective.”
(Smith)
RESTATING SOME CONCLUSIONS
The role of community food systems in federal
agricultural policy is quite limited at this time.
But the next farm bill will be the most open in
history, leaving much greater room for
participation by every kind of food system
(community and otherwise) as Congress refuses
to resolve the growing debate about the science
and culture of food. Thus, the next farm bill will
begin an era of postmodern farm and food
politics and policy.
BEYOND THE POSTMODERN FARM BILL
“What will extension be when it grows up?”
“[T]he answer to that question depends on
genetics, childhood experiences and learning,
further learning, opportunities, and luck.”
Jim Hildreth, NPPEC, 1989
BEYOND THE POSTMODERN FARM BILL
What will the food system (with its increasing
variations, community or otherwise) be as it
grows up in the postmodern era and beyond?
What will public policy education be as it grows up
in the postmodern era and beyond?
REFERENCES
K. Schillo and P. Thompson, “Postmodernism for animal scientists.”
Journal of Animal Science, 81: 2989-94 (2003).
V. Bufacchi. “Skeptical Democracy.” Politics, 21: 23-30 (2001).
M. Curd and J. Cover. Philosophy of Science: The Central Issues.
W.W. Norton & Company, 1998.
H. Smith. Beyond the Postmodern Mind: The Place of Meaning in a
Global Civilization. Quest Books, 2003.
D. Schweikhardt and W. Browne. “Politics By Other Means: The
Emergence of a New Politics of Food in the United States.” Review
of Agricultural Economics, 23: 302-18 (2001).
S. Fish, et. al. “Can Postmodernism Condemn Terrorism? Don’t Blame
Relativism.” The Responsive Community, 12(1): 27-66 (2002).