History of the Farm Bill
Actors Forming Farm Bill Conservation Programs Farm Bill Policy Process Farm Bill Issues
Pre-1985
Farm Bill Policies
1930’s:
The
Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933 was in effect the first farm bill in the
United States. Its main purpose was
to control the supply of agricultural goods in the country and guaranteed
farmers that prices would not fall below a set level.
However this price guarantee was not a guarantee at all.
In order avoid excessively low prices that were common in this era,
farmers had to participate in production reduction programs such as setting land
to fallow.
In 1935 The Soil Conservation Act was
passed. This act established the
Soil Conservation Service (SCS) who allocated funding for farmers that utilized
soil conservation practices. One
year later the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act was passed.
In fact it was really a bill, or a proposed law, but by disguising it as
an act, or official law, the taxpayers of
After the 1936 act was passed the SCS was able to pay farmers under a program known as the Agricultural Conservation Program (ACP). The goal of the ACP, much like earlier programs, was to reduce crop surpluses hopefully resulting in higher prices for the producer. Under the ACP farmers had to convert land formerly in row crops classified as soil depleting to a cover crop. The ACP was not successful in reducing surpluses so the 1938 Agricultural Adjustment Act was passed to solve some of the ACP problems. It too was unsuccessful in reducing surpluses but it did build the groundwork for later programs.
WWII – 1950’s:
World
War II rebuilt the
Consecutive farm bills in 1949 and 1954 did very little to keep surpluses in balance with world demand, so in 1956 the Agricultural Act was passed. This act pulled 29 million acres out of row crop production and created an area know as the Soil Bank. Once again the idea of the Soil Bank was to take land out of production hopefully to reduce surplus grain and protect areas at risk during another Dust Bowl event. This was the first farm policy actually aimed at protecting soil, water, forestry, and wildlife habitat rather than having just farm commodities in mind (Cain, 38).
1960’s –
1984:
The 1960’s ushered in another decade of programs aimed at reducing crop acreage to control commodity surpluses. In 1961 the Emergency Feed and Grain Act was passed to take even more acres out of production. The biggest success of this act, and others that followed within a few years, were that they expanded the amount of acres allowed in conservation programs and lengthened the amount of time they could be in those programs to either 5 or 10 years.
It seemed as though the
The Agricultural Act of 1970 offered payments to farmers that allowed sportsmen to recreate on their conservation properties, and created the Water Bank to protect waterfowl breeding grounds. Three years later the Agriculture and Consumer Protection Act was passed to allow land in the Water Bank and Rural Environment Conservation programs to stay in them for up to 25 years in order to assure that rural America would stay aesthetically pleasing. In 1977 the Food and Agriculture Act as passed, which mainly focused on rural water quality due to farm run-off pollution. This act, unlike others, allocated more funds for useful projects that targeted water quality rather than just any land.
The 1980’s began a decade of United States Farm Bill history that started to show the most concern it has ever had for the environment. Until the early 1980’s most of the agricultural policies dealt with reduction of soil erosion and providing water to farmers at sufficient levels to improve crop production. Public awareness of environmental issues concerning farming also came to light through observations of the deteriorating landscapes and media coverage. Finally, after the 1985 Farm Bill, conservation was aimed at actual conservation of natural resources rather than being a means of the government to control rural development (Cain, 39).
1985
– 2002 Farm Bill Conservation Provisions and Programs
Highly
Erodible Land Conservation = “Sodbuster”:
First described in 1985, the Sodbuster provision stated that if a farmer was raising a commodity crop on highly erodible land, or HEL, as determined by the local conservation district they must use conservation practices that are effective and appropriate to the land. If the farmer refused to perform such practices they would not be eligible for federal crop insurance, farm storage loans, or loans through price support programs. The only exception to this rule was if the HEL currently in production was formerly in a conservation program between the 1981 and 1985 crop production years.
Revisions
made to Sodbuster in 1990 focused on lands classified as HEL to include those
that recently came out of CRP. There
were also revisions that loosened the strict guidelines of the original
conservation practices required on HEL. If
the landowner made a conscious effort to comply with protocol on HEL no penalty
for loan eligibility was assessed. 1996
revisions defined what a conscious effort included but also stated that any
exemptions made one year were not to carry over to the next until the problem
was corrected.
Wetlands
Conservation = “Swampbuster”:
Also defined in 1985, the Swampbuster provision stated that eligibility for federal crop insurance, farm storage loans, or loans through price support programs would be denied to any landowner converting a wetland to commodity crop use after December 23, 1985. The term wetland was defined as “’land that has a predominance of hydric soils and that is inundated or saturated by surface or groundwater at a frequency and duration sufficient to support and that under normal circumstances does support, a prevalence of hydrophytic vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions.’” Exemptions to this provision were permitted if the wetland were drained before the 1985 Farm Bill, was created artificially, if agricultural production was still possible without damaging the wetland, and if a conversion of a wetland to agricultural use was considered to have minimal environmental impacts.
The main revisions of Swampbuster to be added by the 1990 Farm Bill stated that in order to be considered a wetland the land must meet all three criteria originally defined by the 1985 Farm Bill rather than just one. This revision was especially detrimental to those wetlands located in the Prairie Pothole Region that periodically go dry. 1996 revisions were more positive by declaring that any wetland converted to agricultural use must be replaced by the restoration of another previously converted wetland.
Conservation
Reserve Program (CRP):
CRP was the first defined program under the Farm Bill and was
established in 1985. CRP was
designed to move highly erodible cropland from production to conservation
status. It accomplished this by
making 10 year rental payments to landowners whose bids were accepted into the
program. In order for a rental
payment bid to be accepted the conservation value placed by the farmer had to be
similar to the value placed on the land by the
The main revision to come out of the 1990 Farm Bill was the expansion of the eligible lands list. The list would now include marginal pasturelands dedicated to wildlife habitat, marginal pasturelands dedicated to trees, lands that threaten water quality, grass waterways, and lands currently in easement programs for wildlife habitat. 1996 brought only minor changes to CRP such as giving the landowner the opportunity to make a bid on land that is currently in CRP to keep it in for another 10 years. The 2002 Farm Bill also saw only minor changes to CRP, but an important outcome was the total for enrolled acres was increased to 39.2 million acres.
Wetlands
Reserve Program (WRP):
Not created until the 1990 Farm Bill came out, WRP was designed to prohibit destructive activities on defined wetlands by making easement payments to landowners for terms of 30 years. The land eligible for this program included wetlands converted to cropland prior to December 23, 1985, wetlands on CRP acres that will be farmed after the CRP contract expires, and buffers linking wetlands together that are protected by some other easement program. WRP also set a cap of 1,000,000 acres total with no more than 200,000 acres being allowed into the program per year.
The 1996 Farm Bill took a step in the wrong direction and changed the nationwide cap of WRP acres to only 975,000 acres. It also stated that the yearly acreage allowed into the program had to be divided equally among permanent easements and 30 year easements. The 2002 Farm Bill corrected the mistakes of 1996 and did away with the division of acreage allotments per year and increased the national acreage cap to 2,275,000 acres.
Wildlife
Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP):
The establishment of WHIP under the 1996 Farm Bill provided the USDA and NRCS an opportunity to create a cost-sharing program with landowners willing to devote land to enhance habitats such as uplands, wetlands, and forests for wildlife. This program is especially important to non-game species and threatened or endangered species. The revisions made by the 2002 Farm Bill to WHIP allowed payments to be made to landowners for a minimum of 15 years and increased the funding to WHIP from $15,000,000 to $85,000,000.
Environmental
Quality Incentives Program (EQIP):
Also created in the 1996 Farm Bill, EQIP was designed to help landowners address and correct major environmental threats on their lands and come in compliance with federal environmental laws. EQIP replaced three separately funded programs known as the Agricultural Conservation Program, Great Plains Conservation Program, and Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Program. It collectively merged these programs into one with contracts of 5 to 10 years being available. Projects undertaken by EQIP include livestock waste facilities, terraces, waterways, and wildlife habitats. Technical assistance is also provided to landowners to manage such practices as manure incorporation, irrigation, tillage, and grazing.
Conservation
Security Program (CSP):
One of the most recent farm bill programs is CSP, which was created 2002. CSP is designed to provide landowners with incentive payments for incorporating various land management practices to their farm operations. Landowners are paid according to tiers, which are based on the number of resource concerns that are addressed by the landowner through some sort of conservation practice that is not being funded by another conservation program. Tier I landowners are paid a maximum of $20,000 per year, Tier II is $35,000 per year, and Tier III is $45,000 per year.
Tier I payments are received if one resource concern, such as erosion, is addressed on a small portion of the entire farm operation by the landowner. Tier II payments are received by landowners that address and improve one resource concern on their entire farm operation. Finally, Tier III payments are for those landowners dealing with all of the resource concerns on their entire farm operation by making changes accordingly to conserve these resources.
Grassland Reserve Program (GRP):
GRP
is another recent farm bill program that was also created in 2002.
GRP is intended for land that contains either forbs or shrubs, was
historically grassland, or has an importance to wildlife or the environment.
Rental payments are made to landowners for 5, 10, 20, or 30 years on
parcels of land that are 40 acres in size or larger.
Once in the program landowners are not allowed to till the land but are
permitted to hay and graze it. However, they must abide by rules set which are
intended to protect nesting birds and establish a natural fire regime once again
to the landscape (O’Brien).
References
O’Brien, Doug.
“Summary and Evolution of
Cain, Zachary, and Stephen Lovejoy. “History and Outlook for Farm Bill Conservation Programs.” Choices. 4th Quarter 2004: 37-42.
Images Courtesy of:
United States Department of Agriculture
Natural Resources Conservation Service