The American Farmer as Virtuous Citizen: Representations of Agriculture and Farmers in American Agricultural Policymaking.

This article discusses farmers and the agriculture industry are depicted in U.S. agricultural policymaking. It explains that the story of U.S. agriculture in popular culture has been told through a narrative that relies on concepts and symbols, which constitute as agrarian myth. The development of the agrarian myth in the U.S. has both rational and romantic aspects. The rational agrarians are influenced by Thomas Jefferson, while the romantic agrarians are influenced by literary figures as Henry David Thoreau.