The Profit Problem of American Agriculture: What We Have Learned with the Perspective of Time

The problem of poor profits in American agriculture is not new or a secret, but it is not well known to most Americans, including most policy makers, even though the problem threatens an entire sector of our national economy. As such, the problem should be understood by policy makers at all levels of American government. Yet after more than 80 years of government policy interventions in agriculture, the problem remains: Farm income for 2018 is forecast to fall to its lowest real-dollar level in nearly two decades (USDA, 20018c). This failure indicates there must be a fundamental flaw in policy makers’ understanding of the profit problem. Therefore, this article i) presents a summary of research findings that outlines the problem and ii) offers guidelines to policy makers and agricultural industry participants who, as a team, may hold the only workable solutions to this old problem.