In a speech at Bradley University in September 1956, President Dwight Eisenhower told the crowd, “You know, farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil, and you’re a thousand miles from the cornfield.”
Even though it was said 65 years ago, that statement rings strangely true for America’s agricultural sector, which is heavily regulated. Farmers face red tape and regulators at every turn, while consumers find grocery stores with meat and dairy shortages during the era of COVID-19. Even in 2021, consumers are seeing up to 6% yearly increases in beef prices, after a 9% increase in 2020.
In 2019, American farms accounted for more than 2.2 million jobs and added $136 billion to the nation’s gross domestic product. However, agriculture is never at the forefront of our minds regarding public policy. This strange situation was the impetus behind a recently published John Locke Foundation study, Freedom To Farm: The Impacts of Agriculture Regulation On Production and Processing In The South.
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