Ensuring the Harvest

The Union of Concerned Scientists argues that U.S. farm policy disproportionately supports non-perishable commodity crops while hindering 'healthy-food' farms—those growing fruits and vegetables using sustainable or organic practices. Key barriers include planting restrictions in subsidy programs, a lack of accessible whole-farm-revenue insurance, and credit constraints for small-scale or diversified operations. The report recommends eliminating planting restrictions, reforming the Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) insurance pilot to be more flexible and national in scope, removing arbitrary surcharges for organic farmers, and expanding micro-lending programs to support rural economic development.

• Federal commodity subsidy programs discourage the production of healthy foods by prohibiting farmers from planting fruits and vegetables on non-perishable commodity program acres, which limits the availability of fresh produce in local markets.
• The federal crop insurance program is heavily skewed toward a few non-perishable commodity crops; in 2011, corn, soybeans, wheat, and cotton accounted for 83 percent of the program's liabilities.
• The Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) whole-farm-revenue insurance pilot is underutilized due to limited geographic availability, high transaction costs, and a burdensome design based on taxable revenue that excludes community-supported agriculture (CSA) models.
• Organic farmers face systemic disadvantages in crop insurance, including an arbitrary 5 percent premium surcharge and the inability of most organic growers to insure crops above conventional market prices.
• Sustainable healthy-food farms face significant credit barriers because lenders often require crop insurance as a prerequisite for loans, and the nonstandard nature of diversified farming increases the transaction costs and risks for lenders.
• Increasing domestic fruit and vegetable production to meet USDA dietary recommendations could significantly boost local economies; one scenario estimates a potential increase of up to $9.5 billion in local-food sales and the creation of 189,453 new jobs.

APA

O’Hara, J. K. (2012). Ensuring the Harvest. Union of Concerned Scientists. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/ensuring-the-harvest-full-report.pdf

Chicago

O’Hara, Jeffrey K. Ensuring the Harvest. Union of Concerned Scientists, 2012. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/ensuring-the-harvest-full-report.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=O’Hara |first1=Jeffrey K. |title=Ensuring the Harvest |publisher=Union of Concerned Scientists |date=April 2012 |url=https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/ensuring-the-harvest-full-report.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{ohara2012ensuring, author = {O’Hara, Jeffrey K.}, title = {{Ensuring the Harvest}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {2012}, month = apr, url = {https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/ensuring-the-harvest-full-report.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }