Dang, you're GOOD !

Order Code RS22131
Updated March 22, 2006
The “Farm Bill” in Brief
Geoffrey S. Becker
Specialist in Agricultural Policy
Resources, Science, and Industry Division
Summary
Most provisions of the current “farm bill,” the Farm Security and Rural Investment
Act (FSRIA) of 2002 (P.L. 107-171), expire in 2007. However, policy developments
have brought farm bill programs into play during the 109th Congress. For example, the
Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (P.L. 109-171, S. 1932) includes five-year net savings of
$2.7 billion in farm commodity, conservation, and rural programs. This report will be
updated if events warrant; for a more extensive discussion of the issues, see CRS Report
RL33037, Previewing a 2007 Farm Bill, by Jasper Womach, coordinator.
What Is the “Farm Bill”?
Federal farm support, food assistance, agricultural trade, marketing, and rural
development policies are governed by a variety of separate laws. Many of these laws
periodically have been evaluated, revised, and renewed through an omnibus, multi-year
farm bill. These policies can be and sometimes are modified through free-standing
authorizing legislation, or as part of other laws. However, omnibus farm bills have
provided Congress, the Administration, and interest groups with a periodic opportunity
to address agricultural and food issues more comprehensively.
The Farm Security and Rural Investment Act (FSRIA) of 2002 (P.L. 107-171) is the
most recent omnibus farm bill. Many provisions, notably farm income and commodity
price supports, expire in 2007. Without new legislation, permanent price support statutes
would take effect. Most of these statutes were enacted many decades ago and are no
longer compatible with current national economic objectives, global trading rules, and
federal budgetary or regulatory policies. Many believe that these largely outdated
permanent laws are kept on the books partly to compel a Congress with increasingly urban
and suburban constituencies to pay attention to national agricultural policy.
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What’s in a Farm Bill?
In addition to a title or titles on farm income and commodity price supports —
namely the methods and levels of federal aid to agricultural producers — farm bills
typically include other titles. This omnibus nature can create a broader coalition of
support among sometimes conflicting interests for policies that, individually, might not
survive the legislative process. FSRIA 2002 contains ten separate titles. These titles, and
examples of what they cover, are:
Title I — Commodity Programs, which specified direct payment and production
marketing loan levels for the 2007 crops of wheat, feed grains, rice, cotton, and oilseeds,
including soybeans; ended peanut poundage quotas with compensation to holders, and
redesigned support to operate like that for other major row crops; continued import quotas
and price support loans for sugar; and supplemented milk price support (through surplus
dairy purchases) with 3½ years of “income loss” payments. A provision nominally
limiting annual crop payments to $360,000 per person garners continuing debate.
Title II — Conservation, which reauthorized through FY2007 and expanded several
existing conservation and environmental programs and created several new ones,
including a grasslands reserve program and a conservation security program (CSP)
providing incentive payments to farmers who adopt specified conservation practices on
working lands.
Title III — Trade, which reauthorized through FY2007 and amended USDA’s
foreign export promotion, credit, and subsidy programs and foreign food aid (P.L. 480),
and authorized the International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program.
Title IV — Nutrition Programs, which extended through FY2007 the food stamp
program, expanding some eligibility and benefit provisions; the emergency food
assistance program; nutrition assistance for Puerto Rico and American Samoa; the
commodity supplemental food program; and nutrition assistance on reservations.
Title V — Credit, which authorized funding levels for USDA farm credit programs
(authorized by the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act) through FY2007, and
made several changes in the privately owned and operated Farm Credit System.
Title VI — Rural Development, which authorized mandatory and discretionary
funding for a variety of both new and existing programs, including value-added
agricultural market development grants, rural broadcast and broadband services, rural and
regional planning, water and sewer applications, the Rural Business Investment Program,
and Rural Strategic Investment Program.
Title VII — Research and Related Matters, which reauthorized university research
and state cooperative extension programs through FY2007, reauthorized the Initiative for
Future Agriculture and Food Systems (a competitive grants program on critical emerging
issues and high-priority research), and placed new emphasis on research to improve
bioterrorism prevention, preparedness, and response.
Title VIII — Forestry, which created programs to help private forest landowners
adopt sustainable forest management practices, and local governments to fight wildfires.
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Title IX — Energy, a new farm bill title that extended, with mandatory funding, a
bioenergy program and established new and/or expanded programs for federal purchases
of bio-based products and education, and loans and grants for farmers to purchase
renewable energy systems and to improve energy efficiency.
Title X — Miscellaneous, covering a wide variety of programs and issues, ranging
from mandatory country of origin labeling for fresh meats, produce, seafood, and peanuts,
to an overhaul of virtually all USDA animal health protection laws, increased annual
authorizations of appropriations for outreach for socially disadvantaged farmers, financial
assistance for apple growers, a biotechnology education program, and others.
What Is the Cost?
Most (though not all) programs in a farm bill are classified as mandatory spending,
where the authorizing bill itself determines the total annual cost by setting eligibility
conditions, benefit levels, and so forth. Most farm support and domestic food assistance
programs and many conservation and trade programs are mandatory spending. Such
spending can vary widely from year to year, depending on crop and weather conditions,
program participation rates, and other economic variables. Farm bills also authorize many
discretionary programs where the appropriators make the annual spending decisions; most
of the research and many rural development programs are examples.
When the 2002 farm bill was enacted and scored against the then-current
Congressional Budget Office (CBO) baseline (March 2002), the estimated total
seven-year cost of the programs that most directly benefit the farm sector (farm
commodity support and mandatory conservation and trade programs) was $130 billion
(FY2002-FY2008). Based on market conditions in early 2006, the cost for these
programs was re-estimated to be $118 billion. (Other farm bill programs incur additional
costs not reflected in this number.) As part of the nature of mandatory programs, a
revised spending estimate that is below the original cost estimate does not result in
additional spending authority. Likewise, a revised estimate resulting in spending above
the original estimate does not require a budgetary offset, as long as the higher spending
is caused by changes in market conditions, and not changes made to the authorizing law.
Policy Setting
In the 109th/110th Congress, the scope and direction of a farm bill could be
determined by a number of contributing factors besides federal budgetary concerns,
including the domestic agricultural and general economy, and international trade
developments, among others. Two key indicators of U.S. farm well-being showed a third
consecutive robust year for the U.S. agricultural sector in 2005. For 2005, net cash
income was a near-record $83 billion on the strength of carryover sales from 2004 crops
and record government payments, according to forecast data from the USDA’s Economic
Research Service (ERS). Direct government payments in 2005 climbed to a record $23
billion, offsetting somewhat lower cash receipts. Such forecasts can change sharply,
however, depending upon domestic weather, growing conditions in competing countries,
agricultural disease or pest outbreaks, currency exchange and interest rates, and energy
costs, for example. Farm net cash income was forecast (as of early 2006) to be $65 billion
in 2006, with direct government payments estimated to be $18.5 billion of the total.
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The United States is participating in the current Doha round of multilateral trade
negotiations that could succeed the 1992 Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture
(URAA), which is intended to limit trade-distorting domestic farm support, export
subsidies, and import tariffs. The URAA and other World Trade Organization (WTO)
rules, as well as a series of bilateral and regional trade agreements concluded or being
negotiated by U.S. officials, potentially constrain the choices U.S. lawmakers have in
designing the next generation of agricultural, trade, food, and related policies. Already
the United States has been revising some cotton support program provisions after a WTO
panel ruled that portions are not in compliance with the URAA. A WTO panel also ruled
against a U.S. law (the so-called “Byrd Amendment”) that can divert anti-dumping duties
directly to industries injured by imports, including agricultural imports. (See also CRS
Report RL33144, WTO Doha Round: The Agricultural Negotiations, by Charles
Hanrahan and Randy Schnepf.)
Congressional Action
The 110th Congress is widely viewed as likely to set the final details of a farm bill
in 2007. However, unanticipated economic problems, disease and pest outbreaks, natural
disasters, and other events spur lawmakers to debate agricultural policies and spending
almost annually. Additional money often reaches farmers through emergency disaster
appropriations. And, spending on farm subsidies and other USDA programs inevitably
is discussed when Congress considers the regular annual appropriation for USDA.
In response to reconciliation instructions in the FY2006 budget resolution
(H.Con.Res. 95), which passed Congress in April 2005, the subsequent Deficit Reduction
Act of 2005 (P.L. 109-171, S. 1932), alters mandatory commodity, conservation, rural
development, and research programs to achieve five-year net savings of approximately
$2.7 billion. Other non-farm legislation also can affect farm bill stakeholders, such as tax
law changes, trade legislation, and omnibus energy legislation. Such measures can
contain provisions that either explicitly or implicitly impact the food and agricultural
sectors. (See CRS Report RS22086, Agriculture and FY2006 Budget Reconciliation, by
Ralph M. Chite.)
Discussion of a 2007 farm bill itself is already underway within the various farm and
commodity trade organizations; Washington, D.C., think tanks; and other interest groups.
The Agriculture Committees also are holding field hearings on a new bill in 2006.
(Secretary of Agriculture Johanns held a series of public “Farm Bill Forums” in most
states during the last half of 2005.) Beyond that, predicting the course and outcome of a
farm bill is difficult.
For More Information
For a more extensive look at farm bill issues, see CRS Report RL33037, Previewing
a 2007 Farm Bill, by Jasper Womach. For information on the major price support
programs, see CRS Report RS21999, Farm Commodity Policy: Programs and Issues for
Congress, by Jim Monke.

Establishing a Nut Orchard

Climate, Site and Soil
The first priority in developing a successful nut orchard is to determine that the climate, site and soil are suitable for the crop you are trying to grow.

The climate should be within the climatic zones suggested for the tree, preferably protected from late spring frosts.

The site should be gently sloping, well-drained and without low spots or frost pockets. While hillsides may be attractive planting sites for timber trees, steep slopes are not easy to maintain for nut harvesting purposes. If tile drainage is necessary, make sure that an appropriate outlet is available to you. Plan where the trees will go and put in the tiles between the rows of permanent trees. This will prevent the tree roots from getting into the tiles and blocking the drains.

The soil should be a loamy sand or clay. Check with you agricultural experiment station for information on your soil type and do a soil test to find out what nutrients are needed. Plough in your soil needs, particularly potassium before you plant, as this nutrient is very difficult to incorporate after the trees are planted. Plant a cover crop the year before, if possible, to add organic matter and to enrich the soil. Plough down the cover in the spring before planting and disk and harrow, pick rocks etc. in preparation for planting.

Planning Your Orchard
At this point you need to decide whether you will plant grafted, seedling or a combination of grafted and seedling trees. This can determine spacing and the proper placement of pollinators.

Decide on the spacing of your trees and measure, then mark out the planting sites being sure that no rows are too close to field tiles. This can vary according to the species being planted and the overall planting goals. The day before planting dig your holes by hand or with a 20 inch auger. Do not dig the holes deeper than the deepest roots. This will prevent sink holes later caused by the settling of the soil which takes the tree down with it. This is a particular problem when using an auger. Mark the sites with coloured ribbon. This will be a guide to make sure that the proper tree is in the site and that the planting plan is being followed. If your soil is lacking in organic matter, mix the planting soil with and equal volume of peat moss and a handful of potassium (0-20-0) or bonemeal. Well rotted compost may be used on the surface but not mixed fertilizers or manures as these can burn roots and cause harm.

Planting the Trees
As soon as your nursery stock arrives, it is important to make sure the tree roots are kept moist by spraying with water and keeping them in a plastic bag to keep the wind off and to prevent drying. If they can't be planted right away, heel them in on the north side of a shelter or keep them covered with tarps and wet straw or peat moss in a frost proof but cool building. The roots must be protected from drying winds, bright sun and below freezing temperatures at all times while they are out of the ground.

Transport the trees in large black plastic bags to the planting sites in a covered truck or wagon, making sure the roots are always protected. Centre the tree and be sure it is aligned with others in the row before backfilling the soil. Do not prune the tree roots or bend them around to fit the hole, instead dig the hole bigger to accommodate the tree as needed. Make sure that you spread the roots as you plant to provide the tree with plenty of soil contact. Check that the root collar is even with the soil surface or slightly below. Tamp the soil around the roots gently with your feet to remove large air pockets as you refill the hole. Water the tree liberally after planting.

Put a mulch of wood chips around the tree about 5 cm (2 in.) thick and out about 2 m (6 ft.). This is very important for the first 3-5 years as it will keep weeds down and prevent them from hampering tree root development and growth.

Orchard Aftercare
Weeds that find their way through the mulch can be pulled or sprayed with Roundup herbicide. Be careful not to contact any part of the tree Check for insect damage, especially caterpillars, aphids or leafhoppers and spray accordingly. The trees are susceptible to insect damage beginning in June, particularly in the first year as they have been weakened by transplanting.

Water regularly through the first growing, or better yet set up an irrigation system to water the trees as needed. A drip system will do when the trees are small, followed by low sprinklers as the trees grow larger. This is particularly important in the light sandy soils of the "tobacco belt" in Ontario.

Soon after planting the trees, a ground cover may be established. Dwarf perennial ryegrass is ideal for this purpose as it is slow growing, less competitive with the trees and requires fewer mowings during the growing season. It is available through most farm supply outlets.

After the first year, 15-15-15 fertilizer can be added annually in early May. Apply to the mulch and avoid contact with the tree trunk. A handful is all that is needed in the first year, but you may need to provide your ground cover with an annual application to help it fill in.

Some corrective pruning may be necessary in the spring of the second year, but this should be confined to pinching back the undesired growth to favour the upward growth of the main trunk or stem.