More than 60 percent of consumers across the political spectrum support increasing government support for both farmers and food assistance as a response to inflation, according to a survey released last week by the University of Illinois.
Liberals had the highest rates of support for both, with 90.2 percent supporting increased funding for food programs and 85.3 percent supporting increased funding for farmers, the Gardner Food and Agricultural Policy Survey found. Conservatives had lower levels of support for both, but 64.4 percent still supported increased funding for food programs and 66.4 percent were in favor increased funding for farmers.
The survey, conducted in August among approximately 1,000 participants across the country, also asked respondents: “In your opinion, what is MOST to blame for inflation?” Participants were able to choose either supply chain issues, the COVID-19 pandemic, energy prices, corporate profits, government policy or consumer stockpiling.
Responses to that question differed among political affiliations. Liberals and moderates were more likely to blame the pandemic and supply chain issues while conservatives blamed government policy. Among that latter group, 71 percent still supported increasing support for farmers and 64.8 percent supported increasing payments for food programs.
“This disconnect may be the result of multiple factors or combinations of factors,” the survey researchers — Jonathan Coppess and Maria Kalaitzandonakes of the University of Illinois and Brenna Ellison of Purdue University — noted “Consumers may blame government policy generally and not connect that blame to specific policies for helping farmers or food assistance. They could also attribute blame to specific government policies such as pandemic relief payments, the paycheck protection loan program. That blame would likely not transfer to other government policies.”
The researchers also stated that the results “could indicate a recognition that people need to buy food and farmers need to produce food, even under inflationary pressures,” adding that “the public’s support of both policies could be a valuable insight for farm bill debates and as the Federal Reserve undertakes important but painful efforts to combat inflation.”
The University of Illinois Department of Agriculture and Consumer Economics launched the Gardner survey in June to broaden discussion of farm policy beyond farmers’ perspectives on food and agricultural policies. “Rarely do we discuss agricultural policies from the perspective of the taxpayer,” the researchers noted. “Yet they are an important stakeholder.”
Respondents are recruited to match the U.S. population in terms of gender, age, income, and geographic region and are asked a different set of questions each quarter. Earlier surveys asked respondents about their beliefs concerning the food system and their trust in the food system.