A few weeks ago Americans for Limited Government Foundation published a paper by Dr. J. Wesley Burnett of the College of Charleston on "Moving to a Free Market Agriculture Policy." It's a great, short survey of U.S. agriculture policy, especially of recent policy changes, and the role of U.S. agriculture in global agriculture markets. If you're looking for an accessible way to get up-to-speed on federal agriculture policies, this paper is a great means of doing so.
I was drawn to the paper because it also touches on sugar policy reform, something I've written on a couple of times recently for IPI. The paper endorses a multilateral approach to solving the sugar subsidy problem, as I have also suggested.
Dr. Burnett concludes, as many of us have concluded:
". . . the U.S. cannot and should not act unilaterally in its reforms, which would only reduce the competitiveness of domestic farms in international markets. To ensure the long-term competitiveness of domestic farms in international markets, the U.S. needs to establish multilateral trade agreements with its foreign competitors. Congressman Yoho's proposed zero-for-zero reform policy provides the basic fundaments for a successful subsequent Doha Round trade negotiation."