Politically portrayed as valiant family farms scratching out a living in the Jeffersonian mode, agriculture is instead the most regulated and subsidized sector of the industrial economy, deeply intertwined in environmental policies. Agricultural Policy and the Environment pulls back the wrappings that cloak U.S. agriculture and explains how and why politics has affected the traditional stewardship role played by agriculture. The stories about why this has happened are as important to understanding policy outcomes today as the stories that explain how it has evolved.
Agricultural Policy and the Environment
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Roger Meiners
- Senior Fellow
Roger Meiners is Goolsby Distinguished Professor of Economics and Law at the University of Texas at Arlington and a senior fellow at PERC.
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Bruce Yandle
- Senior Fellow Emeritus
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PERC Reports Magazine, Summer 2026
A special issue exploring American conservation history as the nation turns 250.
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Thomas Jefferson: The Lost Founding Father of American Conservation
Two years before he authored the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson set out on the lifelong project of conserving Virginia’s Natural Bridge. Michaelle Browers has described the effort as “perhaps the first major act of nature preservation in the new republic.” The man who would be Governor of Virginia and President of the United StatesContinue reading "Agricultural Policy and the Environment"
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How the Eagle Came Back
As we celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary, it is heartening that America’s national symbol, the bald eagle, is no longer imperiled. Although once at risk of extinction throughout much of its historical range, this majestic species rebounded in the late 20th century, and populations are now in good health. At the time of the nation’sContinue reading "Agricultural Policy and the Environment"
