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Illinois ag economist publishes book on past farm bills

Just before passage of the 2018 Farm Bill came a new book published by an Illinois ag economist about the history of farm bills.

University of Illinois professor Jonathan Coppess tells Brownfield his book explains how the farm bill has developed over the last 100 years of policy debate.

“Some of the issues and some of the conflicts we see today, like the regional differences of opinion over farm programs and the partisan issues over SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), it tells how those have developed and come into play, which have frankly complicated significantly the last two efforts by congress to pass a farm bill.”

Coppess says his research highlights ways to improve the legislation.

“It’s not as if history is giving a big reassurance that the way we have gone about this the last couple of times is sustainable.”

The book, titled The Fault Lines of Farm Policy is one of few that dives into the 2014 bill and the beginning of the 2018 bill.