Agricultural Subsidies In The United States

Agricultural Subsidies In The United States

Agricultural subsidies have existed in the United States for over a hundred years. The 1916 Federal Farm Loan Act provided affordable loans to farmers. Several programs emerged during the New Deal Era that supported the development of crop insurance, limited competition, production controls and much more. A struggling finance industry in the 1980s led to an increase in the government financial support of farms, despite calls from the Reagan administration to cut subsidies. In 1996, the 'Freedom to Farm' law drew away from the subsidies and support market supply and demand. However, in the years following, Congress started to again funnel subsidies to the agricultural industry. The original provisions of the 1996 law would have resulted in $47 billion in subsidy cost over 7 years; instead, spending reached well over $120 billion (Orden, Paalberg, Roe, 1999). ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...Not only did the bill expand subsidies by 74% over 10 years, but it established a 'counter cyclical' price program that guaranteed prices for farmers (Government Printing Office, 2005). Then, in 2014, Congress implemented another extensive farm bill. Not only did it expand crop insurance, it also instituted two subsidy programs; Agricultural Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage. The bill was originally supposed to save taxpayers money; however, it is now clear that the new programs will cost billions more than before (Smith,

... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...