In January 2014, Congress passed an act that would promote reform of agricultural programs in the United States which would become known as the Farm Bill (GPO.gov, 2014) and it was signed into law in February 2014 (NIFA.usda.gov, 2016). In addition to agricultural programs, the bill supports employment and research within the industry (YouTube, 2014). It also relegates funding for tribal institutions for Native Americans and black institutions such as Central State University in Ohio.
Evolution
The origin of the farm bill began in the 1920s as farmers faced drastically lower crop prices at the end of World War I when Congress repeatedly introduced the bill, but President Coolidge vetoed it (Heiligenstein, 2016). The first farm bill was passed by President Roosevelt in 1933 as part of the New Deal. Prior to the 2014 Farm Bill, agricultural programs were funded by the 2008 farm bill and numerous government programs (NIFA.usda.gov, 2016). Projects previously discontinued by previous legislation are restored in the new Farm Bill. Also, disaster relief programs has been reactivated and back losses paid (USDA 2014, 2016).
Current Status
An evaluation of the success of the Farm Bill one year after it became law demonstrates activity implementing change in agricultural programs (USDA.gov, 2016). Documented progress includes:
A Farm Bill safety net coverage for agricultural risk
Improved farmer education through a $6 million award to extension programs
Dairy farmer aid such as marketing assistance loans and milk income loss contracts
Greater protection for crop growers of fruits and vegetables
Funding for drought assistance
Incentives for conservation programs for range and pasture lands.
In addition, $10 million is earmarked for the expanding markets program to open and increase markets for exportation. Another $9 million is slated to support community food projects, and an allotment of $31 million is designated for SNAP food projects. To encourage SNAP participants to leave the food program, $200 million is available for job training. Farmer education for using biodiesel fuel received $960,000. Numerous other projects addressing topics such as rural housing, telecommunication infrastructures, and food research also show strong action.
Advantages and Disadvantages
A disadvantage to the Farm Fill has a $478 price at attached to it (Heiligenstein, 2016). In support of the high associated cost, food stamps and nutrition programs comprise 80 percent of the budget; annual spending on food programs doubled during the Bush administration and again during President Obama’s terms of office. Cuts in welfare in the 1990s and rising unemployment in 2009 required expansion of government food assistance programs. A solution is to lower the cost of food programs in the Farm Bill is by decreasing a loophole that states benefits are eligible if even the recipient is awarded only $1 in heating assistance. It had been proposed that recipients must be awarded at least $20 in heating assistance to quality for state benefits. Direct payments to farmers are being cut by $7 billion, but there is an increase in crop insurance funding.
Another disadvantage to the Farm Bill concerns two new programs created by the bill; these programs are the Agriculture Risk Coverage and a Supplemental Coverage Option (Washington Post Editorial Board, 2014). There are definite advantages to farmers enrolling in these programs. For instance, with Agricultural Risk Coverage, individuals are offered a whole-farm approach (Humphreys, 2014). The disadvantage, according to Vincent H. Smith, a Montana agricultural economist, this almost guarantees that the revenues for beneficiaries will never drop under 86 percent of their income when crop prices are at their peak. Farmers with incomes up to $900,000 may still qualify for payments. The subsidies and crop insurance costs approximately $20 billion every year and opponents claim that giant agribusiness and wealthy farmer receive most of the funds rather than small farms attempting to continue in business (WSJ, 2015). If this problem does indeed manifest in the ensuing years after enactment, the length of the Farm Bill is only for five years. At the end of that time, it will be possible to make modifications or even eliminate the bill altogether; Smith believes farmers should be forced to stand on their own.
Another disadvantage of the Farm Bill is that it did not have the inclusion of several measures from versions previously submitted and now the power of the USDA is restricted in its ability to enforce laws concerning fair livestock markets (Hoefner, 2014). Also, the potential of the Environmental Protection Association is more limited in protecting the environment by decreasing funding by $296 million and lowered awards for Drinking Water and Clean Water State Revolving Funds by a combination of $472 million (WhiteHouse.gov, 2016). However, an advantage is a provision that empowers the Food and Drug Administration to analyze how regulations related to food safety would economically impact farms and local food distributors.
An additional advantage is lower risk for the farmers as the federal government assumes higher risk (Desjardins, 2016). Guaranteed subsidies are ended and to blunt the impact, a subsidy for crop insurance has been put into place. Payments are now less and the benefits will be paid out at lower levels. The disadvantage to this action is that that the government may be required to make higher payments to farmers if there is a disaster or if prices for crop severely drop.
Conclusion
Aside from protests concerning the contents of the bill, there are two major considerations when rating the success of the Farm Bill of 2014. First, the documented actions published by the USDA on the programs funded and positive changes taking place as a result of the bill are an issue. Second is the cost of the legislation. The savings touted by evaluation committees were based on estimates in January of 2014 (Smith, 2016). Forecasts for major crops were considered to be optimistic and inappropriately used for projections of program savings. Therefore, the true cost of the new programs implemented under the Farm Bill is much higher than estimated and those they replaced. If market prices continue as seen presently, the costs will overtake the savings by several billion dollars annually. In that event, the future of the 2014 Farm Bill may be in jeopardy.
References
Desjardins, L. (2016). 5 things the farm bill will mean for you - CNNPolitics.com. CNN.
Retrieved 17 July 2016, from http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/04/politics/farm-bill/
GPO.gov. (2014). HR 2642. Retrieved 13 July 2016, from
https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-113hr2642enr/pdf/BILLS-113hr2642enr.pdf
Heiligenstein, M. (2016). A Brief History of the Farm Bill | The Saturday Evening Post.
Saturdayeveningpost.com. Retrieved 13 July 2016, from
http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2014/04/17/culture/politics/a-brief-history-of-the- farm-bill.html
Hoefner, F. (2014). The New Farm Bill: The Good, The Bad, and the Wait-and-See | Civil Eats.
Civil Eats. Retrieved 13 July 2016, from http://civileats.com/2014/01/31/the-new-farm- bill-the-good-the-bad-and-the-wait-and-see/
Humphreys, K. (2014). 2014 Farm Bill: Decision Time. AgWeb - The Home Page of Agriculture.
Retrieved 13 July 2016, from
http://www.agweb.com/article/2014_farm_bill_decision_time_naa_katie_humphreys/
NIFA.usda.gov. (2016). The Farm Bill | National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
Nifa.usda.gov. Retrieved 13 July 2016, from https://nifa.usda.gov/farm-bill
Smith, V. (2016). A midterm review of the 2014 Farm Bill. AEI.org. Retrieved 13 July 2016,
USDA 2014. (2016). Farm and Livestock Directory. USDA 2014 US Farm Bill Highlights.
Retrieved 13 July 2016, from http://www.farmandlivestockdirectory.com/documents /filelibrary/5industry_insider/usda2014farmbillhighlights_6E91A89697499.pdf
USDA.gov. (2016). Progress on 2014 Farm Bill Implementation | USDA. Usda.gov. Retrieved
13 July 2016, from http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome? contentidonly=true&contentid=progress-2014-farm-bill.html
WSJ. (2015). Should Washington End Agriculture Subsidies?. WSJ. Retrieved 13 July 2016,
YouTube. (2016). The 2014 Farm Bill. YouTube. Retrieved 13 July 2016, from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0LBRDKgMk8
