Finances farming

There are also many similarities and interconnections among most of the 10 studies. The earliest study (Osteen and Kuchler, 1986) and several others (NAPIAP, 1992 Danielson et al., 1993 and Pike et al., 1994) used similar information compiled by similar groups of weed scientists. However, the information for the Osteen and Kuchler study was based on conditions and herbicides available in 1985, while the latter three studies used information from 1992 to 1993. The two Battelle studies (funded by Ciba Crop Protection) and the three CEEPES-based studies (CEEPES, 1993,1994 Ribaudo and Bouzaher, 1994) are more distinct because they used different farm level data and different aggregate models. CEEPES was designed to evaluate various agricultural policy tradeoffs in 15 Midwest states. The three triazine studies based on the CEEPES model were partially financed by USDA and USEPA. 

The picture is much more complex, involving once-inflated farmland values used as collateral to finance equipment and fertilizer purchases by farmers, encouraged by lenders and often by county agriculture representatives, themselves influenced by the heavy pesticide promotion of manufacturers representatives. The result has been consolidation of former family-size farms into much larger units, managed in absentia by owner- corporations, and the rapid growth of agribusiness in the U.S. 

In 2000, INRA supported a number of research teams and experimental units currently working on organic farming (see Annex for a full list of current activities). The main objective was to strengthen such units and to enhance their research achievements by providing additional financing. Here are three examples from different domains. 

Excise, a tax on manufactured goods before they went to sale, had first been imposed in 1643. It covered an expanding range of essential goods, like beer and meat (though not bread). It spawned a horde of excise officers, the hope being it would finance the war. But by 1645 assessments, fines on delinquents estates and sale of crown-fee farm rents overtook it. 

Housing Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 1486(f) 42 U.S.C. 1452b(e)). Provides financial assistance for low-rent housing for domestic farm labor. The Act further provides for loans, through public or private agencies, where feasible, to owners or tenants of property in urban renewal areas to finance rehabilitation required to conform the property to applicable code requirements or carry out the objectives of the urban renewal plan for the area. 

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