FARM BILL FUTURE UNCERTAIN
By Mary Fund
The federal farm bill expired September 30 with no fanfare
or immediately discernable impacts, and without passage of a new 2012 farm
bill. This is unprecedented, but then again, a farm bill has never come up for
renewal during a presidential election year. The perceived lack of impact,
though, is not accurate.
True,
commodity program changes won’t begin until January 2013, and the food and
nutrition program (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP) continues
to assist the nation’s vulnerable population as Congress saw to it that its
authority was part of the just-passed Continuing Resolution that keeps
government running through March 2013. Crop insurance, the new sacred cow of
agricultural policy, is not technically part of the farm bill, as it is
authorized under the Federal Crop Insurance Act, so remains unaffected.
While
current commodity program payments are covered until the end of 2012 with some
payments being made in 2013, any bill passed now, whether in the lame duck
session or by a new Congress next year, will make big changes in commodity crop
programs—based on those proposed by both House and Senate in their respective
versions of a farm bill.
Administratively those changes don’t happen quickly or easily, and
farmers (and their bankers or credit providers) need time to make decisions. So
the longer the limbo, the greater the impact and the greater the confusion.
Conservation programs present a mixed bag. The Environmental Quality
Incentive Program (EQIP) and its sub-programs and special initiatives, should
continue normal enrollments due to an earlier extension of their program
authority to 2014. The just passed Continuing Resolution, which keeps
government running, provides continued funding for EQIP – albeit at a lower
level than before, but funding.
But the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP), while also authorized to
2014, only has funds to pay for existing contracts but not enough to pay for
any new ones. Until Congress takes
action, new enrollments to CSP are on hold.
The
Grassland Reserve Program (GRP), Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP), and Conservation
Reserve Program (CRP) have acres remaining under the acreage cap of the 2008
farm bill. But the legal authority for all of these expired September 30, so
according to the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC), there can’t
be new enrollments until Congress passes a new farm bill, extends the current
farm bill or extends these authorities in a continuing resolution or final
appropriations bill. Payments and maintenance of existing contracts is allowed.
Additional programs important to building a better food and farm future
are also impacted by the lack of a new farm bill. The past two farm bills (2002 and 2008) included programs
and funding beyond the traditional food stamps, commodity subsidies, and
conservation. Programs impacted, according to NSAC, include: Beginning Farmer
and Rancher Development Program, Conservation Reserve Program- Transition
Incentive Program, Farmers Market Promotion Program, National Organic
Certification Pro-gram, Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative,
Rural Energy for America Program, Specialty Crop Research Initiative, and the
Value Added Producer Grant Program.
These programs continue to exist on paper, but after October 1 have no
renewed funding; and will remain so until after Congress takes action on a new
farm bill, or extends the current bill. Without these programs, beginning
farmer training opportunities and minority farmer assistance programs dry up.
Microloans and training for very small businesses end. Researchers will not be
able to get dedicated funding for organic or fruit and vegetable research.
Funds to help move expiring CRP land into the hands of beginning farmers ends.
Incentives to create sustainable biofuels based on perennial crops will end.
In
short, programs to create jobs related to food (not commodity crops), renewable
energy and improved production and access to healthy food are on hold and may
not be restored.
Furthermore, there are programs that like the above-
mentioned conservation programs (CRP, GRP, and WRP), have funds but lack the
authority to spend them. These include programs like the Specialty Crop Block
Grant Program and Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program.
While many of the above “non-traditional” programs have been included in
both the Senate and House versions of the new Farm Bill, their fate is
uncertain. Will there funding be restored? And will they be included in the new
bill?
Indeed, the fate of the farm bill during the lame duck session is
uncertain. Will Congress come together and work out a compromise bill by the
end of the year? Or will
Congress work out an extension of the current bill with some modifications
until spring, summer or fall 2013? This option means the new Congress beginning
in January 2013 starts the farm bill process all over again.
Add to all this the questions surrounding major issues also before
Congress before the end of the year (tax issues and deficit reduction/fiscal cliff), and the already thick fog
of the farm bill’s future gets thicker. But whether there is an extension
(short or long) or a full bill, all of the farm programs should be included.
This is not a time to abandon newer important programs that aim to establish a
next generation of farmers and ranchers, answer critical production questions
for specialty crops, organic practices, and biofuels, and ensure access to
healthy food for urban and rural citizens alike.
(With help from the
National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC). For ongoing information on
farm bill developments, go to: http://sustainableagriculture.net/blog/
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