The agricultural economies of Australia and the United States experienced a major boom in the 1970s and a major bust in the 1980s. This paper examines the contribution of macroeconomic policy to these phenomena in the two countries over the last twenty years. We find that the observed agricultural cycles in the two countries were in part the unintended consequences of macroeconomic policies pursued for other reasons. Agriculture in both countries is heavily dependent on export demand and is highly capital intensive. Macroeconomic policies affecting exchange rates and interest rates are thus of considerable importance to these sectors. Implications for agricultural policy are also discussed.