At last, Congress has passed a farm bill that the President plans to sign this Friday at Michigan State University. The new five-year farm bill has been a contentious piece of legislation and one of the most difficult to pass in over two decades. The U.S. Senate passed the new farm bill by a vote of 68-32.
The fact that it has taken so long to finally pass a five-year farm bill is another indication of the squabbles and partisan nature that permeates the current Congress.
Farm policy is essential to a strong and economically viable America. Producers have been operating for far too long without a national policy allowing them to plan, plow and plant with some certitude and confidence. This new legislation was not without some very vociferous critics who referred to it as a “monstrosity.” Though important to enact, the cost of the new farm bill follows the passage of the omnibus appropriations bill and displayed another large expenditure of taxpayer funds late in the Congressional session.
One of the controversial components of the new farm bill retains funding for food stamp programs. While claiming to produce savings in the food stamp program SNAP (Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program), it appears that no one will be removed from this program. This action still begs the question if this provision should even remain in an agriculture bill. The total cost of the bill is nearly $1 trillion dollars. Nutrition funding in the amount of $756 billion takes up a significant part of the new farm bill spending.
The new farm bill ends direct payments to farmers and other farm programs. It provides and strengthens risk management tools and includes crop insurance. Without crop insurance, farmers would have no way to recover from disasters unless the government was to step in and provide unplanned disaster assistance. The new legislation will provide risk management to fruit and vegetable farmers as well as livestock farmers experiencing disasters.
Other components of the farm bill include, new and expanded research funding,
and conservation measures.
It appears that the farm bill, like much federal legislation today, took much longer to pass due to partisan wrangling over money and philosophical issues. The perpetual inclusion of the food stamp program, even at reduced levels, will continue to cause special interest groups to be involved in any new agriculture-related legislation and regulations for the new farm bill. The persistent involvement of groups with such interests will only make it more difficult to pass farm bills in the future.
In the end, time was running out for Congress. Thus a supersized bill, cobbled out in large measure, now becomes the law of the land for agriculture policy. It can be assumed that a 900-page plus bill, passed quickly was not read and understood by many members of Congress. This is especially troublesome in a Congress with fewer and fewer members with no significant and actual involvement in American agriculture.
As with all new federal legislation, the devil will be in the details, especially in the
form of new regulations which will be promulgated by the United States Department of Agriculture and other relevant federal agencies. Emanating from an administration that is noted for profuse and intricate regulations, it will be interesting to see how the implementation of the new farm bill progresses.
Write a Letter to the Editor on this Article
We encourage readers to offer their point of view on this article by submitting the following form. Editing is sometimes necessary and is done at the discretion of the editorial staff.