| Abstract: | Intervention by the state in agriculture is under increasing scrutiny world-wide as the financial cost to both consumers and taxpayers rises. This paper analyses the consequences for research of the contemporary and prospective revision of agricultural intervention, with attention directed to both direct and indirect farm support programmes. The discussion emphasizes the need for researchers to place their analyses within a more explicit conceptual framework of state-agriculture relations than in the past. A number of alternative frameworks are discussed including the previously dominant policy process model. Policy impact assessments emerge as the most researched area of state-agriculture relations, although recent research on the cost of agricultural support programmes is emphasized, together with projected effects of trade liberalization agreements. The paper concludes by drawing up a research agenda for the 1990s on agricultural intervention. |
