Introduction

Agricultural policy in the United States is made through a distinctive coalition of interests that come together every five years or so to craft the so-called farm bill. The core of this coalition is a tacit trade of subsidies for agricultural commodity growers in exchange for food and nutrition programs for the needy. How has this coalition proved so durable and adaptable over the years? Or has it, in fact, changed in fundamental ways? Will future policy that confronts agriculture's significant contribution to greenhouse gas emissions take a different form? These questions motivate the forum's return to a venerable concept in agricultural history and social science: the “iron triangle,” which refers to a mutually supporting arrangement of legislators, bureaucrats, and special interests. This essay introduces and synthesizes contributors’ efforts to interrogate and apply the iron triangle concept, finding that it retains utility for understanding the challenges that will face a climate-oriented farm bill politics.