USDA Farm Bill - Essay Sample

Introduction

Most countries depend on agriculture to about thirty percent. Governments establish a set of laws and provisions that support the farming to realize the best out of the activity (Peshin, 2013). For instance, to promote the lives of all Americans, the US government chose to enact a bill that will affect the food, attire, and fuels. Among other measures, the most famous enactment is the USDA Farm Bill. This work explores the USDA Farm bill in the aspects of what it is, what it includes and its role in the US farming sector.

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USDA Farm Bill Explained

USDA as an acronym means the 'United States Department of Agriculture' (USDA Farm Bill, 2018). USDA Farm bill, therefore, refers to the bills and legislative Principles fueled by the US Department of Agriculture to improve farming activities in the country. The bill's history dates back to 1985, with the latest changes taking place in 2018. Initial versions of the bill failed to consider the criticality of Agricultural sector as they never provided for enough funding of the farming. The famous version is the 2018 Farm bill. The bill's pillar was the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018. In this act, the government formulated legislation that allowed increased expenditures on agriculture. After both the Senate and the House passing the bill, the president, Mr. Donald Trump, signed to let for the $867 billion budget on the sector. (USDA Farm Bill, 2018).

Importance of the Bill

American's, and to extend the US government stands to benefit much from the bill in different ways. Most of the benefits of the law derived from the provisions in the bill that promotes the activities of even the smallest farmer. The discussion below illustrates the most significant benefits of the proposal to farmers.

The Bill Provides for Crop Insurance

One of the provisions of the farm bill is ensuring crops for both veteran and beginning farmers and ranchers. Through the Federal Crop Insurance Account, the regulation authorizes insurance of crops. Authorities arrived at this mendment because of its increasing importance as the primary tool for managing the risks for farmers. Through the Supplemental Coverage Option (SCO), the bill addresses part of losses that individual crop insurance policies do not cover. Implementation of the farm bill will serve as a tool for farmers to acquire protection against losses from low harvesting, crop, and farm revenue (Peshin, 2013). Without the involvement of the federal government, multi-peril crop insurance would be quite expensive for producers (Title XI).

Provides Subsidies to Farmers

Trade is vital to agriculture, and the export of goods like cotton is critical to the US. Most of the control of trade lies in the Ways and Means Committee and the Finance Committee in the House and Senate respectively. In the two committees, agriculture represents the nation's most active trade divisions. The two houses thus push for the implementation of the bill.

Consequently, the U.S. traders today enjoy low tariffs and trade protections on agricultural goods from any nation (Reimer & Prokopy, 2014). The benefits arise from the use of a collection of import tariffs and export subsidies to protect their farmers. Also, the bill has policies that incentivize the growing of staple crops like wheat and cotton (Title III).

The Bill Ensures Adequate Food Supply

Through the incentives and subsidies, the bill encourages farmers to engage in agriculture. A farmer diligently participates in the activity following their procrastination of the expected profit. The provision of incentives and subsidies means that the cost of production reduces. Also, low trade tariffs promote people like coffee traders. The effect of these two aspects is the overall low expenses in farming and supply chain and leads to profits. Higher profits attract more farmers to join the activity. The bill also provides for training of farmers which lead to increased yield. Higher yields transform to the continuous food supply (Reimer & Prokopy, 2014).

What Does the Farm Bill Include

USDA farm bill contains twelve different titles. Each title defines a particular requirement providing benefit to farmers in a specific way. The discussion below explains provisions of some the contents of prominent titles in the bill.

Commodities

The 2018 version of the bill lifted the restriction of the previous version on small-scale farmers. (Reimer & Prokopy, 2014). With the proper use of land and economic incentives, a single farming family would produce more and threaten prominent traders' motives. The bill thus restricted production capacity of individual farmers to stabilize US agricultural market. Currently, the farm bill enforcers work with farming families to increase farm productivity and take care of the land. The bill also provides income assistance without influencing the marketplace. The farm bill is also compatible with US goals for free trade and requirements under the World Trade Organization (Title I).

Conservation

The bill improves on the 1985 provisions and focusses on the working lands cost-sharing through Conservation Security Program (CSP). The bill raised the spending on conservation programs to about $5 billion per annum. These programs are essential for farmers, as conservation practices do not automatically translate to profits. The NRCS now works with farm families to form the most sustainable and productive agricultural industry (Reimer & Prokopy, 2014). In the 2002 Farm Bill, the Agriculture Committees oversees the U.S. Forest Service, which is part of USDA. The Department of the Interior manages the federal land and forestry programs. Forestry programs are subject to appropriations (Title II).

Language

The farm bill includes language that aims to eliminate double or improper payments of the benefits that derive from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). In this section, the bill requires states to sign off requests for waivers from work requirements that they currently invoke particularly in areas of high unemployment or poverty. However, food supports activists' targets the defeat of the efforts to limit SNAP's services and reach. The bill allows free expression of ideas. A good example includes the case when critical associations in the food industry expressed their regret over the law. In their dissatisfaction, the group claimed that the bill fails to reform the sugar program (Title III).

Nutrition

Through the farm bill, SNAP was mandated to play the 'food stamps' role in the US. The law provides for 78 percent of all mandatory spending to go on Nutrition programs. These plans qualify people for cash assistance or vouchers for qualified purchases for food that bases on income and asset tests (Title IV).

Credit

The bill provides for credit services to farmers. Most Farmers only have land but do not have the funding to their farming activities. Through the Farm Service Agency (FSA), the bill direct loans and also guarantees loans with partner banks and farm credit institutions to farmers. Through annual appropriations, the government funds these loan programs. The bill provides for new provisions to help beginning Farmers and ranchers (Title V).

Rural Development

This title supports rural business and community initiatives like rural infrastructures and hospitals. Funded by annual appropriations, the loan and grant programs operate at a reasonably low cost. Before the Rural Electrification Act (REA), commercial providers had no economic incentive to stretch their lines into more sparsely populated areas. Post REA, have brought lines to virtually all rural areas. Rural development has facilitated other types of development and investment (Title VI)

Research and Extension

The bill provides federal funds to states to establish agricultural experiment stations. The bill includes a cooperative extension. The extensions incorporate spreading the results of agricultural research to the farmers. Through the National Institute for Food and Agriculture (NIFA), the bill supports the coordinating and funding research and extension in research institutions. The Farm Bill established a program to train, educate, outreach and offer technical support to beginning farmers and ranchers (Title VII). Farm Bill supports specialty crop and organic farming operations with provisions of trade promotion and risk management assistance. The bill also provides for funding for pest and disease management and disaster prevention. According to USDA, sales of specialty crops account for nearly one-third of U.S. crop cash receipts and one-fifth of U.S. agricultural exports (Title X).

Negative Aspects of The Bill

The bill fails to provide solutions during the farm crisis regarding the requirement of the fair pricing, supply management programs, and attention to the climate crisis. Loopholes in the bill allow established farmers to exploit new framers. The bill does not provide additional mandatory funding for the school leading to rigid regulations that do not allow school food authorities to procure local and regional food and farm products (Morath, 2014). The bill lacks important research priorities on climate change and does not provide for funding of plant breeding research and personal development accounts that takes a good share of large-scale farmers (Morath, 2014).

Conclusion

USDA Farm Bill is a critical enactment that influences America's agricultural activities. Farming in the country grows as a result of the available subsidies, crop insurance, support for research and sustainable agriculture. However, to optimize agricultural production, the government should work to seal the issues of the farm crisis, protect beginning farmers and develop breeds that go with the current climate change.

References

Morath, S. J. (2014). The Farm Bill: A Wicked Problem Seeking a Systematic Solution. Duke Envtl. L. & Pol'y F., 25, 389. Retrieved from https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/delp25&div=14&id=&page=

Peshin, R. (2013). Farmers' adoptability of integrated pest management of cotton revealed by a new methodology. Agronomy for sustainable development, 33(3), 563-572. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13593-012-0127-4

Reimer, A. P., & Prokopy, L. S. (2014). Farmer participation in US Farm Bill conservation programs. Environmental management, 53(2), 318-332. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S026483771500112X