摘要：When we reviewed the farm financial situation at last year's Outlook Forum, we described aU.S. farm economy facing an encouraging future of greater access to an expanding globalmarketplace, facilitated by a new era of federal farm policy under the 1996 Federal AgricultureImprovement and Reform Act (the 1996 Farm Act). We described an evolving domestic andglobal agricultural policy era that would allow U.S. farmers additional freedom in makingproduction decisions, and a global market that would present fewer trade barriers and enhancedopportunities to market that product. While increasing farmers' exposure to the risk inherentwith greater market orientation, the approach has been advantageous for U.S. farmers over thepast two years, as a robust domestic economy and strong export demand for our farm productshas produced favorable farm prices and incomes.
