Forward markets for agricultural commodities have coexisted with farm programs for more than 50 years.' The Food Security Act of 1985 required the U.S. Department of Agriculture to investigate how farmers might use forward markets to gain price stability and income protection, the extent of such stability and protection they might reasonably expect, and the Federal budgetary impact of widespread use of such markets by farmers. In May 1987, the Economic Research Service, USDA, cosponsored a symposium with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Farm Foundation. The purpose was to gather additional insight from industry leaders and the academic community into the relationships, both competitive and complementary, that exist between forward markets and farm programs. Substance of that symposium is reported here