Economist examines agricultural policy

Western Farm Press
Jun 18, 2009 1:52 PM, By Dan Bryant Contributing Writer

Biofuels policy may sustain high feed prices, farm subsidies will remain but with more pressure on efficiency, and environmental regulations will persist and strengthen.

Those are three long-term policy issues discussed by Daniel A. Sumner, director of the University of California’s Agricultural Issues Center at Davis, during the 2009 Spring Ag Outlook Conference of the California chapter of the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers at Sacramento.

Sumner said these and a host of other concerns on pests, water, hired labor, regulation, and global competition are under study at the center.

Although many issues are becoming more difficult to resolve, he predicted California agriculture will be able to “innovate ourselves through.”

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