Cartels That Vote: Agricultural Marketing Boards and Induced Voting Behavior

The Agricultural Marketing Act of 1937 permits the establishment of committees that, among other activities, may legally regulate industry sales for the benefit of producers. Unlike other cartels operating in the United States, these committees are exempt from antitrust penalties. Indeed, the federal government itself polices each agreement, punishing those who violate committee edicts. Since more than half of the fruits and tree nuts and 15 percent of the vegetables produced in the United States, measured in value terms, are regulated by such committees, it seems important to understand their behavior. Figure 8.1 indicates crops currently regulated by such federal orders. Since 1937 hundreds of orders have been initiated; most have terminated for one reason or another. ' At the moment, forty-seven dif-ferent federal orders exist. Of these, twenty-four provide for some form of direct regulation of quantity. The rest purportedly regulate quality. Of the twenty-four containing quantity regulations, only a handful are commonl