The National Forum on U.S. Agricultural Policy and the 2007 Farm Bill: Conserving the Ecological Integrity and Economic Resilience of American Agriculture is the third working session in the series sponsored jointly by American Farmland Trust, the Woods Institute for the Environment-Stanford University, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Yale University School of Forestry and the Environment. Background papers from the forums will be published in 2007.

“The goal of this third forum was to generate productive discussion and reactions to new ideas and policies for the 2007 Farm Bill,” said Kaush Arha, Stanford University, one of the organizers of the forum series. “Bringing together leaders from different sectors and disciplines will help create new networks of policy dialogue.”

“I am impressed with the progress in the discussion of farm policy among participants. In general there is consensus on the problems. At the forum we focused on solutions—making U.S. agriculture more competitive, expanding conservation and producing environmental services and promoting rural development,” said Barton H. Thompson, Stanford University.

“AFT relied on these forums in developing our policy recommendations for the 2007 Farm Bill,” said Grossi. “The open and frank discussion among forward thinking leaders such as those gathered together over the past two days demonstrates to me the consensus that we need new policies for the 21st century. More important, there is a commitment not to let these new policies be dictated by international courts but rather by the farmers and ranchers and other stakeholders here in the United States.”

Franz Fischler, former European Union (EU) Commissioner of Agriculture, participated and provided the following perspective on the EU’s experience reforming their farm policy: “Maintaining the status quo meant losing the public’s future support of agriculture in the European Union. The risk of holding on to old policies was far too high. Consumers drove much of the change in farm policy in the European Union. The United States needs to consider how to balance the needs of the public and the needs of the farmers.”

Today, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs also released its new report Modernizing America's Farm and Food Policy: Vision for a New Direction with recommendations on strengthening the competitiveness of U.S. agriculture. “This report parallels and supports many of recommendations for the 2007 Farm Bill made by American Farmland Trust in our Agenda 2007: A New Direction and Framework of U.S. Farm Policy,” added Grossi. “The report acknowledges the need for a new safety net for farmers that is less market distorting and pays farmers for producing environmental benefits.”