Farm bill expires Monday, what's ahead

We have an audio report on Farm Bill prospects from RFD Radio's Matt Kaye in Washington.

Martin Ross

Published: Sep 28, 2012

Given prospective budget impacts and a looming deadline for whopping federal budget cuts, Congress is unlikely to turn back the clock to 1940s-style farm programs, a Chicago-area economist maintains.

Congressional ag committee leaders nonetheless are racing the clock to beat forced spending cuts that could remove wiggle room from House-Senate farm bill negotiations. The 2008 farm bill officially expires Monday (Oct. 1) amid a House stalemate over passage of proposed 2012 ag legislation.

That’s accelerated the push by Farm Bureau and other groups for post-election lame duck farm bill passage.

Technically, farmers revert to “permanent authority” -- provisions of the Agriculture Adjustment Act of 1938 and the Agricultural Act of 1949 -- if a farm bill expires without a new one in place.

That would mean a return to significantly higher “parity” price supports and acreage allotments, and, given heightened budget-deficit concerns, “that’s simply not going to happen,” policy consultant and former American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) economist Ross Korves told FarmWeekNow.

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