What is the role of dept of agriculture?

What is the role of agriculture in the economy and the role of government in promoting agriculture?

• Answer:

  Agriculture provides not only food, but also a lot of other raw materials. All of these items can be sold, which helps boost the economy. Furthermore, food feeds workers and when you have a well fed and abundant source of workers, you increase efficiency (accomplish work at a faster rate). The government promotes agriculture in a lot of ways. A couple stick out to me. First, they provide subsidies to farmers provided the farmers farm what the government asks them to. For example, if a farmer grows a variety of BT corn, the government may give the farmer a bonus for each bushel he goes to sell at the grain elevator (bonus over what he'd get already from the buyer). Both parties benefit. The government controls what crops/animals it feels it needs, and the farmer gets compensated for his work. Another way the government promotes agriculture is through good regulatory practices. The US Department of Agriculture and the work they do acts as a great promotion for American agricultural products as opposed to those that are not inspected by a Department of Agriculture in any way.