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 billA coincidence of external political factorsFood politics by other meansPostmodern 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).