February 5, 2014
www.gfb.org
Vol. 32 No. 5
CONGRESS PASSES 2014 FARM BILL The U.S. Senate passed the 2014 farm bill on Feb. 4 by a 62-38 vote, ending more than three years of deliberations on legislation that sets the federal government’s farm policy through 2018. Georgia Farm Bureau, maintaining that farmers in all commodities need the certainty of a long-term farm bill to assist them in on-farm decision making, had urged passage of the bill. The House passed the bill on Jan. 29 by a 251-166 margin. According to published reports President Barack Obama planned to sign it on Feb. 7 in Michigan. “Georgia Farm Bureau commends Congress for its strong bipartisan vote of support for a new farm bill,” said Georgia Farm Bureau President Zippy Duvall. “This legislation provides flexibility and a measure of security for our farmers, offers disaster and feed assistance for livestock producers, and authorizes conservation programs for landowners. We appreciate the work of the conference committee, and we are grateful for the final votes in Congress.” The bill eliminates direct payments and is projected to save $23 billion over 10 years according to the Congressional Budget Office. Called the Agriculture Act of 2014 (H.R. 2642), the bill gives farmers the choice between two counter-cyclical crop insurance programs: Price Loss Coverage (PLC), which addresses deep multi-year price declines, and Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC), which addresses revenue losses. The bill’s livestock disaster assistance programs will cover losses incurred in 2012 and 2013, according to a summary from House Agriculture Committee Democrats, and establishes permanent baselines for the Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP), the Livestock Forage Program (LFP), Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honey Bees and Farm-raised Fish (ELAP) and the Tree Assistance Program (TAP). Its dairy provision calls for a margin insurance program that protects base production for the life of the farm bill. The dairy provisions include a product purchase program that is activated when margins fall below $4.00 per hundredweight. The bill consolidates 23 conservation programs into 13 and prohibits producers with more than $900,000 in adjusted gross income from being eligible for the conservation programs. The Conservation Stewardship Program is continued at 10 million acres per year and the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP) is rolled into the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is cut by $8 billion over 10 years. The bill takes measures to prevent states from providing token payments under heating assistance programs in order to make participants eligible for greater SNAP benefits.