Understanding regional differences in farm policy preferences

The US farm policy interests are splintered along commodity-specific and regional lines. This is reflected in the increasing political influence of commodity-specific farm organizations, while general farm organizations struggle to articulate unambiguous policy preferences due to sharp regional and commodity-specific differences in the farm policy preferences of their memberships. Revenue variability is generally greater for crops produced in the South than for those produced in the Midwest. This occurs due to commodity and regional differences in yield variability and the correlation between yield and price. Crops produced in the South generally exhibit greater yield variability than those produced in the Midwest, due, in part, to the hot and humid climate. An artifact of previous farm programs is that farms with cotton and rice bases receive larger direct payments per base acre than farms with corn, soybean, or wheat bases.