Agribusiness Industry

American agribusiness provides a secure and safe food supply to our people, filling the first requirement of any sovereign state to feed its people. In doing so, the industry accounts for about 12 of Americas gross domestic product and employs about 17 of its workforce. It is thus central to both the security and the economic health of the nation. The ability of the agricultural sector to accomplish these feats reaches back to the founding of the nation, and has never been called into question a history that has created a tendency toward complacency in policy makers as the industry faces increasing pressures from a range of sources. The specter of bioterrorism has intersected with the increasing globalization of the food supply chain to call into question the security and safety of the nations food supply. Meanwhile, the pressures of an increasing population, urban encroachment, and concerns about domestic security have placed pressures on the three basic requirements for agricultural production land, water, and labor. More recently, the competition between food and energy in ethanol production has increased these pressures, with second and third order effects rippling throughout the agribusiness industry. These pressures demand an integrated response by government if the nation is to preserve its ability to feed its people but this response is complicated by the diffuse structure of the industry and its regulators, and by the processes through which the nation establishes its farm policy.