Relationship Between Policy and Agricultural Markets and Economics - Essay Example

In order to counteract the declining state of the people, Congress had invoked a policy called the “Dairy Payment Program” which would pay the dairy farmers a sufficient remuneration on a monthly basis whenever the price of the milk and its products decrease below a standard level.  After its successful implementation, the policy succeeded in maintaining a steady state of dairy farming across the declining regions and is continuously helping out the farmers whenever they are in a state of economic depression. (Whitehouse, 2006)

Eightfold Path Analysis

The policy discussed here has successfully followed the guidelines of an eightfold path analysis. The problems that the policy is going to deal with are clearly specified and the evidence for its strategy and purpose is clearly visible in the Agricultural Market Transition Act. (Whitehouse, 2006) The problems that are detailed by this policy are obtained from several third-party organizations such as the MILC program, Milk production report (Whitehouse, 2006), and National Agricultural Statistics Service. (USDA 2006) The solutions provided for the mentioned problems have been analyzed appropriately considering their own advantages and disadvantages. The goal of the program is set in such a way that it is doable considering the tenure of the implementation of the policy. A proper legalized procedure has been chosen to achieve the goal. Additionally, the impact of applying these strategies, both positive and negative effects have been listed. The conclusive decision has been mentioned, fulfilling the pre-final step of the eightfold path analysis. As the policy was read out openly at the Senate, it successfully completes the final step of the analysis which is, declaring the policy open to the public. (Bardach,2008)

Relationship Between Policy and Agricultural Markets and Economics

The policy under discussion has a great impact on the markets pertaining to agriculture. It is a general phenomenon that agriculture product prices attain highs and lows in the most random manner that one could hardly predict. Specifically, dairy products have always been more volatile in their prices when compared to other agricultural products. Hence, when there is a possibility of the prices dipping greatly, this policy could come to the rescue of the farmers and ensure that the supply and demand ratio of the products is maintained. Because of this policy, the government is more focused on paying the farmers in case of price dips instead of maintaining the supply-demand equilibrium. As a result, the other forces of the market come into the picture to determine the prices. This helps to bring about steadiness in the market economy of the country. (Whitehouse, 2006)