Search

Explores the political influence of 100 organized agriculture and rural interests, as perceived by 195 Congressional staff, lobbyists, and organization officials. Finds that organizational influence is related to high activity and policy involvement within the Congressional agricultural establishment and to perceived usefulness to the policy process. Contains 44 references. (SV)

Investigates the failure of the national rural policy in the United States. Linkage between public policy and lobbies; Reasons for not creating sustained rural lobby independent of farm interests; Correlation of the change in environment-wide conditions with technological innovation or business cycle fluctuations.

The article reports that political analysts have historically cast interest group politics in American agriculture as overtly ideological. This is especially true of the general farm organizations. The U.S. Farm Bureau Federation is fiscally conservative. While the liberal agricultural force has been the socially progressive National Farmers' Union (NFU), a third organization, the National Farm Organization, has been interpreted to be a close ally of NFU. The Grange, the oldest of the general farm groups, now seems to reflect the conservative values of older, small scale framers even though its traditions owe to its initial, near radical militancy on farm related matters.