The Role of Government in the Agri-Food Sector

As both major economies and the agri-food systems around the world transit from versions of central planning towards integration with the modern mixed market economy, the question of the appropriate role of government is seen as fundamental. The intellectual and academic bases for identifying the appropriate roles of government is examined and found wanting. Governments are presently pictured as largely exogenous to our other social and economic systems, yet are clearly endogenous. Those few traditions which capture elements of this endogeneity are overtly silent, though implicitly highly critical, of the roles and activities of present governments, identifying aspects of political failure but failing to provide for practical and politically acceptable remedies. A different conceptual model of government is presented, based on the interactions within and between ‘communities’ through differentiated transactions and negotiations mechanisms. Distinctions are drawn between government and governance. The implications of this conceptual model are briefly discussed. It is concluded that the fundamental role of government is to adapt to political failure, which is itself a necessary and inevitable part of the development of human socio-economic systems. It is observed, however, that neither our governmental institutions nor our supporting research traditions are well suited to this endeavour. However, it is concluded that the agri-food system and the community of scholars concerned with its betterment provide an excellent vehicle for the development of such new systems and mechanisms. Furthermore, the traditions of agricultural economics seem well capable of providing leadership in this fundamentally important activity. The Role of Government in the Agri-Food Sector 2