Farm Policy Requirements as Seen from the Perspective of Government

Extract

For many years my interest in farm policy was focused on the substance of the issues we confronted. What were the alternative means by which the current questions could be answered? What were the consequences of the alternative solutions? But recently I have found myself focusing on a different set of questions. These questions have to do, not with the substance of the items that happen to be on the agenda, but with the makeup of the agenda itself. How did the present questions get on the agenda? Who is intent on keeping them there? What other questions are there, questions not on the agenda? Who wants to put them on? In short, are we asking the right questions? Many years of teaching have convinced me that it is very difficult to get the right answer if we ask the wrong questions.