Agricultural Exceptionalism and Farm Policy with Jonathan Coppess

Jonathan Coppess Research Page: https://ace.illinois.edu/directory/jwcoppes

"The Fault Lines of Farm Policy" book

"Between Soil and Society" book

Today’s episode explores an important area of agriculture that I probably don’t talk enough about on this show: ag policy. I wanted to bring Dr. Jonathan Coppess on the program to ask fundamental questions like:

1. Is ag policy working?
2. Is the Farm Bill still relevant?
3. What has changed in ag policy and what needs to change?

As you’ll hear we dive into this and a whole lot more. For some quick background:

Jonathan Coppess is the Gardner Associate Professor of Agricultural Policy in the Department of Agricultural & Consumer Economics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The author of two books on the legislative history and political development of farm policy (THE FAULT LINES OF FARM POLICY, and BETWEEN SOIL AND SOCIETY), he is a member of the farmdoc project and a frequent contributor to farmdoc daily.

Jonathan previously served as Chief Counsel for the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, as well as on a temporary, part-time basis as a special counsel. Prior to his service on the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee, Jonathan served as the Administrator of the Farm Service Agency at USDA and Legislative Assistant to Senator Ben Nelson. Jonathan grew up on his family’s farm in Western Ohio.