The American Enterprise Institute, a non-profit research institute, has commissioned eighteen well-known agricultural economists to ascertain the effects of current U.S. agricultural subsidies, spending programs, and regulations, and to offer policy recommendations.

The 2007 Farm Bill & Beyond was directed by Bruce Gardner, professor of agricultural economics at the University of Maryland, and Daniel Sumner, director of the Agricultural Issues Center at the University of California.

The authors point to numerous poorly designed and inefficient Farm Bill programs. For example, it's observed that American taxpayers pay some $3 billion a year to subsidize crop insurance and $2 billion for ad hoc disaster payments, allowing some farmers to collect twice on the same loss. It is also argued that eliminating subsidies for corn, wheat and soybean would have virtually no effect on the production or prices of these commodities.