Agricultural Act of 1956

Last updated
Agricultural Act of 1956
Great Seal of the United States (obverse).svg
Long titleAn Act to enact the Agricultural Act of 1956
NicknamesSoil Bank Act
Enacted bythe 84th United States Congress
EffectiveMay 28, 1956
Citations
Public law 84-540
Statutes at Large 70  Stat.   188
Codification
Titles amended 7 U.S.C.: Agriculture
U.S.C. sections created 7 U.S.C. ch. 45 § 1801
U.S.C. sections amended 7 U.S.C. ch. 35 § 1281
Legislative history
  • Introduced in the House as H.R. 10875
  • Passed the House on May 3, 1956 (314-78)
  • Passed the Senate on May 18, 1956 (49-22)
  • Reported by the joint conference committee on May 23, 1956; agreed to by the House on May 23, 1956 (305-59) and by the Senate on May 23, 1956 (agreed/passed)
  • Signed into law by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on May 28, 1956

The Agricultural Act of 1956 (P.L. 84-540) created the Soil Bank Program (Title I was called the Soil Bank Act), addressed the disposal of Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) inventories of surplus stocks, contained commodity support program provisions, and contained forestry provisions. [1] The Soil Bank Act authorized short- and long-term removal of land from production with annual rental payments to participants (Acreage Reserve Program and Conservation Reserve Program, respectively). The Acreage Reserve Program, for wheat, corn, rice, cotton, peanuts, and several types of tobacco, allowed producers to retire land on an annual basis in crop years 1956 through 1959 in return for payments. The Conservation Reserve Program allowed producers to retire cropland under contracts of 3, 5, or 10 years in return for annual payments. The Soil Bank Act was repealed by Section 601 of the Food and Agriculture Act of 1965 (P.L. 89-321). The Conservation Reserve portion of the Soil Bank was a model for the subsequent Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), enacted in 1985.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agricultural Adjustment Act</span> United States federal law of the New Deal era

The Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) was a United States federal law of the New Deal era designed to boost agricultural prices by reducing surpluses. The government bought livestock for slaughter and paid farmers subsidies not to plant on part of their land. The money for these subsidies was generated through an exclusive tax on companies which processed farm products. The Act created a new agency, the Agricultural Adjustment Administration, also called "AAA" (1933-1942), an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, to oversee the distribution of the subsidies. The Agriculture Marketing Act, which established the Federal Farm Board in 1929, was seen as an important precursor to this act. The AAA, along with other New Deal programs, represented the federal government's first substantial effort to address economic welfare in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Conservation agriculture</span> Farming system to preserve and regenerate land capacity

Conservation agriculture (CA) can be defined by a statement given by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations as "Conservation Agriculture (CA) is a farming system that can prevent losses of arable land while regenerating degraded lands.It promotes minimum soil disturbance, maintenance of a permanent soil cover, and diversification of plant species. It enhances biodiversity and natural biological processes above and below the ground surface, which contribute to increased water and nutrient use efficiency and to improved and sustained crop production."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Farm Service Agency</span> Agency of the US Dept of Agriculture

The Farm Service Agency (FSA) is the United States Department of Agriculture agency that was formed by merging the farm loan portfolio and staff of the Farmers Home Administration (FmHA) and the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service (ASCS). The Farm Service Agency implements agricultural policy, administers credit and loan programs, and manages conservation, commodity, disaster, and farm marketing programs through a national network of offices. The Administrator of FSA reports to the Under Secretary of Agriculture for Farm Production and Conservation. The current Administrator is Zach Ducheneaux. The FSA of each state is led by a politically appointed State Executive Director (SED).

The Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) is a wholly owned United States government corporation that was created in 1933 to "stabilize, support, and protect farm income and prices". The CCC is authorized to buy, sell, lend, make payments, and engage in other activities for the purpose of increasing production, stabilizing prices, assuring adequate supplies, and facilitating the efficient marketing of agricultural commodities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Conservation Reserve Program</span> U.S. federal aid program

The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) is a cost-share and rental payment program of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Under the program, the government pays farmers to take certain agriculturally used croplands out of production and convert them to vegetative cover, such as cultivated or native bunchgrasses and grasslands, wildlife and pollinators food and shelter plantings, windbreak and shade trees, filter and buffer strips, grassed waterways, and riparian buffers. The purpose of the program is to reduce land erosion, improve water quality and effect wildlife benefits.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996</span> United States federal law

The Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996, known informally as the Freedom to Farm Act, the FAIR Act, or the 1996 U.S. Farm Bill, was the omnibus 1996 farm bill that, among other provisions, revises and simplifies direct payment programs for crops and eliminates milk price supports through direct government purchases.

The Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) was a voluntary program offering landowners the opportunity to protect, restore, and enhance wetlands on their property. The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) administers the program with funding from the Commodity Credit Corporation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States farm bill</span> Primary agricultural and food policy instrument of the federal government

In the United States, the farm bill is the primary agricultural and food policy instrument of the federal government. Every five years, Congress deals with the renewal and revision of the comprehensive omnibus bill.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008</span> United States federal law

The Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 was a $288 billion, five-year agricultural policy bill that was passed into law by the United States Congress on June 18, 2008. The bill was a continuation of the 2002 Farm Bill. It continues the United States' long history of agricultural subsidies as well as pursuing areas such as energy, conservation, nutrition, and rural development. Some specific initiatives in the bill include increases in Food Stamp benefits, increased support for the production of cellulosic ethanol, and money for the research of pests, diseases and other agricultural problems.

The agricultural policy of the United States is composed primarily of the periodically renewed federal U.S. farm bills. The Farm Bills have a rich history which initially sought to provide income and price support to US farmers and prevent them from adverse global as well as local supply and demand shocks. This implied an elaborate subsidy program which supports domestic production by either direct payments or through price support measures. The former incentivizes farmers to grow certain crops which are eligible for such payments through environmentally conscientious practices of farming. The latter protects farmers from vagaries of price fluctuations by ensuring a minimum price and fulfilling their shortfalls in revenue upon a fall in price. Lately, there are other measures through which the government encourages crop insurance and pays part of the premium for such insurance against various unanticipated outcomes in agriculture.

In the United States, the Acreage Reduction Program (ARP) is a no-longer-authorized annual cropland retirement program for wheat, feed grains, cotton, or rice in which farmers participating in the commodity programs were mandated to idle a crop-specific, nationally set portion of their base acreage during years of surplus. The idled acreage was devoted to a conserving use. The goal was to reduce supplies, thereby raising market prices. Additionally, idled acres did not earn deficiency payments, thus reducing commodity program costs. ARP was criticized for diminishing the U.S. competitive position in export markets. The 1996 farm bill did not reauthorize ARPs. ARP differed from a set-aside program in that under a set-aside program reductions were based upon current year plantings, and did not require farmers to reduce their plantings of a specific crop.

The Agricultural Market Transition Act (AMTA) — Title I of the 1996 U.S. farm bill — allowed farmers who had participated in the wheat, feed grain, cotton, and rice programs in any one of the five years prior to 1996 to enter into seven-year production flexibility contracts for 1996-2002. Total national production flexibility contract payments for each fiscal year were fixed in the law. The AMTA allowed farmers to plant 100% of their total contract acreage to any crop except fruits and vegetables, and receive a full payment. Land had to be maintained in agricultural uses. Unlimited haying and grazing and planting and harvesting alfalfa and other forage crops was permitted with no reduction in payments. AMTA commodity support provisions were replaced by the 2002 farm bill, a six-year farm bill.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agriculture and Food Act of 1981</span> United States federal law

The Agriculture and Food Act of 1981 was the 4-year omnibus farm bill that continued and modified commodity programs through 1985. It set specific target prices for 4 years, eliminated rice allotments and marketing quotas, lowered dairy supports, and made other changes affecting a wide range of USDA activities. The next year this farm bill was amended to freeze the dairy price support level and mandate loan rates and acreage reserve provisions for the 1983 crops. Again in 1984, amendments were adopted to freeze target prices, authorize paid land diversion for feed grains, upland cotton, and rice, and provide a wheat payment-in-kind program for 1984.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990</span> United States federal law

The Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade (FACT) Act of 1990 — P.L. 101-624 was a 5-year omnibus farm bill that passed Congress and was signed into law.

The Environmental Conservation Acreage Reserve Program (ECARP) was a United States umbrella program authorized by the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 that includes the Conservation Reserve Program, and the Wetland Reserve Program. The Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 continued the CRP and WRP and created the Environmental Quality Incentives Program.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Food Security Act of 1985</span> United States federal law

The Food Security Act of 1985, a 5-year omnibus farm bill, allowed lower commodity price and income supports and established a dairy herd buyout program. This 1985 farm bill made changes in a variety of other USDA programs. Several enduring conservation programs were created, including sodbuster, swampbuster, and the Conservation Reserve Program.

The Soil Bank Program is a federal program of the late 1950s and early 1960s that paid farmers to retire land from production for 10 years. It was the predecessor to today’s Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). Proposed by President Eisenhower as part of the 1956 Agriculture Act, the original idea was for the government to buy back sub-marginal land that was homesteaded in the late 1800s. This would both extend pastures, forests and watersheds and also reduce the need for the government to support overproduction.

The Soil Bank Act of 1956 was part of the Agricultural Act of 1956 passed by the U.S. Congress. This act created the Soil Bank Program, which removed farmland from production in an effort to reduce large crop surpluses after World War II. Land deposited into the Soil Bank was then converted into conservation use. The idea for the Soil Bank was taken from legislation from the 1930s dust bowl and was similar to many depression-era solutions to lower crop prices. Eventually, the Soil Bank act of 1956 was overturned by the Food and Agriculture Act of 1965.

The Direct and Counter-cyclical Payment Program (DCP) of the USDA provides payments to eligible producers on farms enrolled for the 2002 through 2007 crop years. There are two types of DCP payments – direct payments and counter-cyclical payments. Both are computed using the base acres and payment yields established for the farm. DCP was authorized by the 2002 Farm Bill and is administered by the Farm Service Agency (FSA).

In United States agricultural policy, the payment limitation refers to the maximum annual amount of farm program benefits a person can receive by law.

References

  1. Peters,Gerhard; Woolley, John T. "Dwight D. Eisenhower: "Statement by the President Upon Signing the Agricultural Act of 1956" May 28, 1956". The American Presidency Project. University of California - Santa Barbara. Retrieved June 25, 2013.