Fields of Influence: Presidents, Farming, and Food Policy

The executive branch has long exerted significant influence over the shape of American agricultural policy, whether it is nudging farmers on what to grow, setting prices they receive for crops, or determining where and how their products are sold. Changes in presidential administration have often jolted the agriculture and food system, sending it in new directions. These three papers explore the very different ways these new directions played out as presidents have engaged with farm and food policies in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, in the process shaping issues well beyond the farm field.