Farm Bill Case

Farm Bill 2013 Summary

The Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act of 2013, widely known as the Farm Bill 2013 is an omnibus, five-year appropriations bill that manages a range of the country's food and agricultural policies. The bill can be summarized in the following titles:

Food Stamps and Food nutrition: The current bill sets aside $760.5 billion over the next decade of this program. The biggest share of this appropriation will go to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). However, the bill has tweaked some of the rules to tighten eligibility so that to reduce overall spending on the program.

Commodity Programs: The bill has set aside $41.3 billion over the next decade to fund several programs that will protect farmers against sharp price fluctuations. In particular, dairy farmers and planters of cash crops such as cotton, soybean, corn, rice, wheat and peanut will be the biggest beneficiaries of these programs.

Crop insurance: The bill has set aside $89 billion for this program for the next decade. In the past, most farmers have been capable of buying crop insurance to protect them against price declines or crop failures. While the government was paid $7 billion each year to cover these premiums, the current bill extends this spending by an additional $5 billion. This will cover deductibles that farmers are required to pay before they are insured.

Conservation: This includes programs to shield farmers against soil erosion, to encourage them to cultivate on less land and to help them use green methods of farming such as drip irrigation.

The bill sets aside $ 58 billion for these programs.

Trade: This title aims at promoting American crops internationally while providing food aid to foreign countries. It also mandates the government to offer technical support to farmers in the developing world. A total of $3.6 billion over the next decade has been appropriated for this program.

Energy: The bill governs the amount of money that will be used for biofuels and energy programs in the countryside. It also avails funding for developing bioplastic industries and biochemicals so that to reduce America's dependence on fossil fuels. A total of $1.1 billion has been set aside for these programs.

Miscellaneous: This covers everything from rural development, forestry programs to development and research. Programs that have been considered include those that promote farm markets, timber sales on federal land and research into citrus diseases and organic agriculture. A new research and design agency has been proposed (US Government Printing Office, 2013).

Op-ed: Effect of the Farm Bill on Hunger

The Farm Bill 2013 has drawn a myriad of reactions to the fact that it aims at reducing government spending on SNAP. Indeed, both the Senate and House of Congress versions have proposed to cut spending on the program by billions of dollars. In order to pass the latest legislation, the Senate had to remove all issues related to SNAP with the promise that another legislation would be formulated to address this emotive issue. From previous events, it is likely that spending on the program will be significantly reduced. Supporters of the bill have always insisted that the program has become too expensive. However, this editorial argues that any attempts to reduce spending on SNAP will only worsen the hunger situation in the country.

Food stamps remain one of the most important