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Keywords

Federal public policies, food and agriculture programs

Abstract

The Federal Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002, otherwise known at the 2002 Farm Bill, contains current legislation regarding federal public policies and programs for U.S. food and agriculture. This legislation will expire in 2007 and thus new legislation will be developed. It is important to have farm producers’ input for developing this legislation because the policies and programs influence their business practices and livelihoods. The purpose of this study was to determine Arkansas producers’ attitudes toward current and future farm legislation based on an analysis of a survey administered to Arkansas farm producers in summer 2006. The main finding of this research is that Arkansas producers would like to create more incentives for biofuel research. They also indicate through survey preferences that risk management policies such as insurance, disaster assistance, and labeling of foods should be addressed more thoroughly with more funding allocated to these areas. Arkansas producers are not in favor of eliminating current commodity payments although there was a significant difference of opinion in this area between those who produce program crops and those who do not. These study results provide an important assessment of producer preferences for future farm legislation.

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