While adult consumers’ familiarity with the farm bill is low, their support for government subsidies to farmers is high.

Two-thirds of consumers surveyed reported they either had never heard of the farm bill or had heard of it but weren’t familiar with its components, according to the latest Consumer Food Insights survey by Purdue University’s Center for Food Demand Analysis and Sustainability.

Breaking down the results, the survey found 35% were not at all familiar with the farm bill; 31% weren’t very familiar; 22% were somewhat familiar; and 11% were very familiar.

“This reveals the need for easily accessible information that is digestible so that consumers who are a major stakeholder of the bill, are more informed of the politics that stem from the bill,” the analyst said.

Consumer priorities

Providing respondents more information about the farm bill, the survey asked them to rank what they want the farm bill to prioritize. Food affordability and economic sustainability for farmers topped the list, followed by nutrition, the environment, food security and availability, taste and social responsibility.

“Interestingly, taste ranks lower than the environment, the analysts said.

The center’s data show consumers consistently rank taste, affordability and nutrition as the most important values when they shop for groceries.

“This reveals a discrepancy between what consumers want public policy to prioritize versus what they base their individual food purchasing decisions on. When it comes to individual purchasing decisions, consumers are more likely to think about their taste preferences than the environmental impact of their decision,” they said.

Farm subsidies

The survey also asked participants to indicate their level of support for government subsidies to farmers, including price support in the event of low prices, reduced crop insurance premiums and conservation incentives. About 70% of respondents were in support of subsidizing farmers.

Breaking down the results, the survey found 34% strongly support farm subsidies, 37% somewhat support; 19% neutral; 7% somewhat opposed; and 4% strongly opposed.

The survey found there is bipartisan support for subsidizing farmers, with a majority of self-identified liberals (81%), moderates (62%) and conservatives (72%) all supporting farmer subsidies to some degree.

Food assistance

The survey also asked respondents about their support for U.S. government spending on food and nutrition assistance and found 70% of respondents in support and only 12 opposed.

The survey found there is bipartisan support for that assistance, with a majority of self-identified liberals (88%), moderates (69%) and conservatives (58%) all supporting the assistance to some degree.