Crop insurance is purchased by agricultural producers, and subsidized by the federal government, to protect against either the loss of their crops due to natural disasters, such as hail, drought, and floods, or the loss of revenue due to declines in the prices of agricultural commodities. The two general categories of crop insurance are called crop-yield insurance and crop-revenue insurance. On average, the federal government subsidizes 62 percent of the premium. In 2014, crop insurance policies covered 294 million acres. Major crops are insurable in most counties where they are grown, and approximately 83% of U.S. crop acreage is insured under the federal crop insurance program. Four crops—corn, cotton, soybeans, and wheat— typically account for more than 70% of total enrolled acres. For these major crops, a large share of plantings is covered by crop insurance. In 2014, the portion of total corn acreage covered by federal crop insurance was 87%; cotton, 96%; soybeans, 88%; and wheat, 84%.
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.
In different administrative and organizational forms, the Food for Peace program of the United States has provided food assistance around the world for more than 50 years. Approximately 3 billion people in 150 countries have benefited directly from U.S. food assistance. The Office of Food for Peace within the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is the U.S. Government's largest provider of overseas food assistance. The food assistance programming is funded primarily through the Food for Peace Act. The Office of Food for Peace also receives International Disaster Assistance Funds through the Foreign Assistance Act (FAA) that can be used in emergency settings.
In the United States, the farm bill is the primary agricultural and food policy tool of the federal government. The comprehensive omnibus bill is renewed every 5 years or so and deals with both agriculture and all other affairs under the purview of the United States Department of Agriculture.
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.
In United States federal agriculture legislation, the Agricultural Management Assistance Program was authorized in the Agricultural Risk Protection Act of 2000 and permanently authorized and amended in the 2002 farm bill to provide mandatory funding of $20 million annually from FY2003 through FY 2007 and $10 million in all other years. Participants in 15 designated states, primarily in the northeast, that had been under-served by crop insurance are to receive financial assistance, not to exceed $50,000 per year, to help pay to install conservation practices and take other specified actions that will reduce their financial risk.
The Agriculture Risk Protection Act of 2000 made major revisions to the United States' federal crop insurance program and provided emergency agricultural assistance. The crop insurance provisions significantly increased the program's government subsidy; improved coverage for farmers affected by multiple years of natural disasters; and authorized pilot insurance programs for livestock farmers and growers of other farm commodities that were not served by crop insurance, among many other provisions. The emergency provisions made available a total of $7.14 billion in emergency farm assistance, mostly in direct payments to growers of various commodities to compensate for low farm commodity prices.
The Apple Market Loss Assistance Program is a program of the Farm Service Agency that has made payments to apple producers to partially offset revenue losses from low prices caused by the loss of markets. The 2002 farm bill mandated the payment of $94 million by the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) for lost markets in crop year 2000. Earlier funding was mandated for the 2000 crop of apples by P.L. 107-76, Sec. 741, and for the 1998 and 1999 apple crops by P.L. 106-387, Sec. 811.
In United States agricultural law, Commodity Assistance Program is term used by appropriators to refer to a variety of domestic programs receiving food in the form of USDA supplied commodities. The term was formalized for the first time in FY1996 appropriations law to refer to the consolidation for funding purposes of three commodity donation programs that are authorized under two separate statutes: the Emergency Food Assistance Program (EFAP), Soup Kitchen-Food Bank Program, and the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP).
The Federal Crop Insurance Reform and Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994, Pub.L. 103–354, 108 Stat. 3178, was introduced on April 14, 1994 by Eligio de la Garza (D-TX) and was signed into law on October 13, 1994 by President William J. Clinton. It consisted of two titles:
The Emergency Food Assistance Act of 1983 amended the original Temporary Emergency Food Assistance Act of 1983 to authorize multi-year funding and commodity donations from excess Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) inventories of foodstuffs for food distribution by emergency feeding organizations serving the needy and homeless. It subsequently was amended in 1985, 1988, 1990, 1996 and 2002 under the 2002 farm bill. This is the Emergency Food Assistance and Soup Kitchen-Food Bank Program.
The Temporary Emergency Food Assistance Act of 1983 (TEFAA) was a supplemental appropriations act for FY 1983 that, among other things, explicitly authorized a discretionary commodity donation effort begun in 1981 by the USDA. The initial effort was limited to disposal of excess commodities held by the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) by donating them to states. This law also authorized funding to help states and local emergency feeding organizations with the storage and distribution costs of handling the commodities. This is the origin of the current Emergency Food Assistance Act of 1983.
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 Small Hog Operation Payment (SHOP) is a 1999 program, funded through USDA’s Section 32 account and administered by the Department’s Farm Service Agency, that provided approximately $178 million in direct payments to hog producers to compensate them for low hog prices in late 1998. Under the ad hoc program, producers were eligible for up to $10 per hog on the first 500 hogs marketed during the last 6 months of 1998. Operations marketing 2,500 or more hogs during that period, those with 1998 gross income greater than $2.5 million, and those with certain marketing contracts were not eligible. USDA had first announced the program, using its existing administrative authority, in January 1999, with payments set at $5 per head and total spending to be $50 million. Both the Administration and Congress later sanctioned the expanded payments.
The Mohair Recourse Loan Program is a program authorized by the emergency provisions of the FY1999 USDA appropriations act that made interest-free recourse loans of $2.00 per pound on mohair produced prior to October 1, 1998. Final date to obtain a loan was September 30, 1999. The producer-owned mohair used as loan security had to be stored in approved bonded warehouses. Loans matured not later than 1 year following disbursement. Under the 2002 farm bill, mohair was designated a “loan commodity” and made eligible for marketing assistance loans and loan deficiency payments (LDPs).
Milk Income Loss Contract (MILC) Payments is the name given by USDA to the dairy farmer counter-cyclical payments program, authorized by the 2002 farm bill. Under the program, dairy farmers nationwide are eligible for a federal payment whenever the minimum monthly market price for farm milk used for fluid consumption in Boston falls below $16.94/cwt. A producer potentially can receive a payment equal to 45 percent of the difference between the $16.94 per cwt. target price and the market price, in any month that the Boston market price falls below $16.94. A producer can receive a payment on all milk production during that month, but no payments will be made on any annual production in excess of 2.4 million pounds per dairy operation. On average this limit is reached by a milking herd of 130 cows. MILC payments apply to production beginning December 1, 2002 through September 30, 2012.
Market loss payments is a designation first used in the Omnibus Consolidated and Emergency Appropriations Act, FY1999 to describe the $3.1 billion in emergency income support payments authorized for eligible grain, cotton, and dairy farmers. The Act stated that such funds were to compensate farmers for the loss of 1998 income caused by “regional economic dislocation, unilateral trade sanctions, and the failure of the government to pursue trade opportunities aggressively.” Similar economic emergency support payments for selected commodities were subsequently enacted in P.L. 106-78, in P.L. 106-224, in P.L. 106-387, and in P.L. 107-25. Market loss assistance to grain and cotton producers were distributed in parallel manner to the contract payments authorized by the Agricultural Market Transition Act.
The honey program is a price support program provided by the United States Department of Agriculture to American honey producers. Federal subsidies to the honey industry began in 1950, when demand for honey decreased following the end of World War II. The program was eliminated in 1993, and re-instated in 2002.
The Agriculture Reform, Food, and Jobs Act of 2013, also commonly referred to as "the farm bill," is one of two United States "farm bills" that were introduced in the 113th United States Congress. The Agriculture Reform, Food, and Jobs Act of 2013 is the bill that was introduced into the United States Senate. A second bill, the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act of 2013 was introduced into the United States House of Representatives. The two bills cover similar topics and programs, but have significantly different provisions. The Agriculture Reform, Food, and Jobs Act of 2013 passed the Senate on June 10, 2013 and has received the support of the President.
