The 2002 Farm Bill: Comparison of Commodity Support Provisions with the House and Senate Proposals, and Prior Law

Publication Date: August 2002

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

Author(s):

Research Area: Agriculture, forestry and fishing

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Abstract:

A new farm bill, the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (P.L. 107171), covering crop years 2002-2007, was signed into law May 13, 2002. Conferees resolved the differences between the H.R. 2646 and S. 1731 and the conference report (H.Rept. 107-424) was adopted by the House on May 2 and the Senate on May 8. The previous farm bill (now prior law) was the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (P.L. 104-127), popularly called the FAIR Act. Commodity support authority in the FAIR Act (Title I, Agricultural Market Transition Act (AMTA)) was set to expire after crop year 2002.

This report provides a side-by-side comparison of prior law (AMTA), with most commodity support provisions of Title I of the new law, and the House and Senate farm bills. There are important similarities and differences between the various versions.

The new law takes effect immediately and applies to crops harvested in 2002. While the House bill would have authorized support programs through 2011 (10 years), and the Senate bill 2006 (5 years), conferees agreed to authorize support through 2007 (6 years). As proposed in both bills, conferees agreed to continue marketing assistance loans, first adopted in the 1985 farm bill and extended by AMTA. The new law will continue the annual fixed, decoupled contract payments first adopted under AMTA in 1996. And, as both bills proposed, the new law will restore the counter-cyclical payments (target price deficiency payments) discontinued by AMTA. The peanut support program is transformed to mirror the program for grains and oilseeds. At the more detailed level of commodity loan rates, contract payment rates, counter-cyclical target prices, and payment limitations, the conference report made compromises between the two bills that were adopted as new law.