Eliminating Fruit and Vegetable Planting Restrictions: How Would Markets Be Affected?

by Demcey Johnson, Barry Krissoff, Edwin Young, Linwood Hoffman, Gary Lucier, and Vince Breneman

Participants in U.S. farm programs are restricted from planting and harvesting wild rice, fruit, and most vegetables (nonprogram crops) on acreage historically used for program crops (known as base acreage). However, a recent World Trade Organization challenge to U.S. programs has created pressure to eliminate planting restrictions. Although eliminating restrictions would not lead to substantial market impacts for most fruit or vegetables, the effects on individual producers could be significant. Some producers who are already producing fruit and vegetables could find that it is no longer profitable, while others could profitably move into producing these crops. Producers with base acreage are the most likely to benefit because they would no longer face payment reductions.

Keywords: Farm programs, base acres, direct payments, vegetables, fruit, wild rice, planting restrictions

In this publication...

• Entire Report
• Report Summary
• Abstract, Acknowledgments, Contents, and Summary
• Introduction
• Base Acreage and Planting Restrictions Under the 2002 Farm Act
• Agronomic and Economic Barriers to Expanding Fruit and Vegetable Production
• Competition for Land Between Program and Fruit and Vegetable Crops
• Planting Dry Beans on Base Acreage: Economic Tradeoffs
• Discussion and Implications
• References
• Appendix
• High-resolution entire report