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Farm Bill Update
April 23, 2014

Articles
What Is The Farm Bill
Other - Congressional Research Service (CRS)
The Federal Budget: Overview and Issues for FY 2015 and Beyond
Farm Service Agency Fact Sheets
Webinar - Farm Bill Changes for Major Southern Program Crops: Cotton, Peanuts, and Rice
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Congressional Research Service

 

The farm bill is an omnibus, multi-year piece of authorizing legislation that governs an array of agricultural and food programs. Titles in the most recent farm bill encompassed farm commodity price and income supports, farm credit, trade, agricultural conservation, research, rural development, bioenergy, foreign food aid, and domestic nutrition assistance. Although agricultural policies sometimes are created and changed by freestanding legislation or as part of other major laws, the farm bill provides a predictable opportunity for policy makers to comprehensively and periodically address agricultural and food issues. The farm bill is renewed about every five years.  

 

The Agricultural Act of 2014 (P.L. 113-79) is the most recent omnibus farm bill, and was enacted into law in February 2014. It succeeded the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (P.L. 110-246). Provisions in the 2014 farm bill reshape the structure of farm commodity support, expand crop insurance coverage, consolidate conservation programs, reauthorize and revise nutrition assistance, and extend authority to appropriate funds for many U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) discretionary programs through FY2018.  

 

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates the total cost of mandatory programs at $489 billion over the next five years (FY2014-FY2018). This estimated cost does not include the cost of discretionary programs that are subject to appropriations. Of the total estimated mandatory outlays, $391 billion is for nutrition assistance and $98 billion is mostly geared toward agriculture production. Within the agriculture portion, crop insurance outlays are projected to be $41 billion over the next five years, $28 billion for conservation, and $24 billion for farm commodity programs. The trade title is projected to spend $1.8 billion over the next five years, horticulture $0.9 billion, research $0.8 billion, and bioenergy $0.6 billion. Accordingly, the overwhelming share (99%) of estimated total net mandatory outlays is anticipated for four farm bill titles: nutrition, crop insurance, conservation, and farm commodity support. Of the projected net outlays, about 80% is for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as food stamps). Farm commodity support and crop insurance are expected to account for 13% of mandatory program costs, with another 6% of costs in USDA conservation programs. Programs in all other farm bill titles are expected to account for about 1% of all mandatory expenditures.

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Other - Congressional Research Service (CRS)


The Federal Budget: Overview and Issues for FY 2015 and Beyond 

Congressional Research Service

 

The federal budget is central to Congress's ability to exercise its "power of the purse." Each fiscal year Congress and the President undertake a variety of steps intended to set levels of spending and revenue and to make policy decisions. The purpose of this report is to provide an overview and background on the current budget debate. This report will track legislative events related to the federal budget and will be updated as budgetary legislation moves through Congress.  

 

In recent years, policies enacted to restrain spending, along with a stronger economy, have led to reductions in the budget deficit. On August 2, 2011, the President signed into law the Budget Control Act of 2011 (P.L. 112-25). The BCA contained a variety of measures intended to reduce the deficit by at least $2.1 trillion over the FY2012-FY2021 period, along with a mechanism to increase the debt limit. Two subsequent pieces of legislation have modified the BCA since it was enacted-the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (ATRA; P.L. 112-240) and the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 (BBA; P.L. 113-67). Both pieces of legislation allow for more discretionary spending than was provided under the BCA for FY2013, FY2014, and FY2015. Various deficit reduction measures were included to offset the costs of the changes to spending levels in both ATRA and the BBA. The BCA and the BBA will continue to affect spending levels in FY2015 and beyond as Congress may debate whether or not to enact further changes.  

 

The Obama Administration released its FY2015 budget in two parts-the first on March 4, 2014, and the second on March 10, 2014. In his budget, President Obama proposes an "Opportunity, Growth, and Security Initiative" to provide additional funding for unspecified discretionary programs in FY2015. The budget also proposes to eliminate the BCA sequester on mandatory programs in FY2015. These proposals yield a deficit for FY2015 that is slightly higher than what is currently projected in the CBO baseline.  

 

Congressional consideration of FY2015 budget and appropriations legislation has already begun. The BBA contained a provision directing the House and Senate Budget Committee chairmen to file spending and revenue levels in the Congressional Record that would be enforceable in the same manner as a concurrent budget resolution for FY2015 if an agreement on a budget resolution could not be reached by April 15, 2014. However, nothing would preclude Congress from acting on a budget resolution for FY2015 even after those levels have been filed. It has been reported that Senate Budget Committee Chairman Patty Murray has signaled that the provisions contained in the BBA make a budget resolution for FY2015 unnecessary. On April 10, 2014, the House agreed to a budget resolution (H.Con.Res. 96, 113th Congress) by a vote of 219 to 205. Though the federal budget deficit has fallen in recent years, CBO, GAO, and the Administration agree that current federal fiscal policies are unsustainable in the long term. Projections indicate that putting the federal budget on a sustainable long-term path will require an agreement on additional deficit reduction. Such an agreement could include increases in revenues, changes to large spending programs, or some combination of the two.

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Farm Service Agency Fact Sheets

Webinar - Farm Bill Changes for Major Southern Program Crops: Cotton, Peanuts, and Rice

Webinar hosted by the southern Risk Management Education Center

Date: April 24, 2014
Time: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM CDT

Decisions and more decisions! The 2014 Farm Bill provides producers of peanuts and landowners with program choices and flexibility with new commodity programs and supplemental crop insurance policies.  Uncertainty brought about by new programs and the timing of implementation of the farm bill could have implications on production in 2014 and beyond. Join us as the Southern Risk Management Education Center hosts a webinar highlighting the bills potential impact on predominately southern region crops.

 

Dr. Nathan Smith is an Associate Professor and Extension Economist with the University of Georgia.  He is located on the Tifton Campus in Tifton, Georgia where his major responsibilities are production economics, marketing and policy for peanuts, grains, and soybeans.  He also has risk management program responsibilities and works with Georgia peanut growers on value-added prospects and ventures.   

 

John Michael Riley is an Extension Agricultural Economist at Mississippi State University.  John Michael joined Mississippi State University in 2008 as the roll-out of the 2008 legislation was under-way. He has been involved in producer education throughout the entire journey of the current Farm Bill.  His primary Extension and research interests are commodity marketing, price analysis, risk management and agricultural policy. John Michael holds a B.S. and M.S. from Mississippi State and his Ph.D. from Kansas State University, all in agricultural economics.

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 University of Arkansas Extension 2014 Farm Bill Web Site 

 

Disclaimer:

  • This information is intended to be for educational purposes only.
  • Without Farm Service Agency (FSA) "FINAL" Rules and Regulations all research and information are preliminary.
  • More (and better) research and information will be available before most decisions need to be made
 

 

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