Political economy of the 2014 farm bill

This article assesses the political economy of the 2014 U.S. farm bill, with a focus on the farm support safety net. The farm bill secured substantial bipartisan majorities in a politically contentious Congress. Planned outlays are predominately for nutrition assistance programs directed toward a tr...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Orden, David, Zulauf, Carl
Formato: Journal Article
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: Wiley 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/149975
_version_ 1855515980848955392
author Orden, David
Zulauf, Carl
author_browse Orden, David
Zulauf, Carl
author_facet Orden, David
Zulauf, Carl
author_sort Orden, David
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description This article assesses the political economy of the 2014 U.S. farm bill, with a focus on the farm support safety net. The farm bill secured substantial bipartisan majorities in a politically contentious Congress. Planned outlays are predominately for nutrition assistance programs directed toward a traditional nonfarm constituency in the farm bill coalition, while annual fixed direct payments to farmers are eliminated but replaced with enhanced downside risk protection against low prices or revenue. The new support programs may prove more or less costly than the foregone fixed payments, with farmers offered a choice between a price countercyclical program with increased reference prices and a revised moving‐average revenue guarantee program. The role of insurance is enhanced, notably by replacing past support programs with a new upland cotton revenue insurance program and dairy milk‐to‐feed margin protection program. Open policy issues that are highlighted include the costs and distortionary effects of moving‐average revenue benchmarks versus fixed reference prices, the overall level of insurance premium subsidies, the potential for overlap between commodity and insurance programs, and lastly, food, environmental, and biofuels concerns that reflect the diverse portfolio of products demanded from agriculture. In an international context, we conclude that the 2014 farm safety net likely would not have been enacted had multilateral agreement been reached on the 2008 Doha Round World Trade Organization negotiating documents. Conversely, the 2014 farm bill makes achieving those limits more difficult. Research is discussed that can elucidate the ongoing political economy of U.S. farm policy and help shape future program design.
format Journal Article
id CGSpace149975
institution CGIAR Consortium
language Inglés
publishDate 2015
publishDateRange 2015
publishDateSort 2015
publisher Wiley
publisherStr Wiley
record_format dspace
spelling CGSpace1499752025-11-12T04:46:27Z Political economy of the 2014 farm bill Orden, David Zulauf, Carl programmes commodities agricultural policies crop insurance conservation wto subsidies legislation This article assesses the political economy of the 2014 U.S. farm bill, with a focus on the farm support safety net. The farm bill secured substantial bipartisan majorities in a politically contentious Congress. Planned outlays are predominately for nutrition assistance programs directed toward a traditional nonfarm constituency in the farm bill coalition, while annual fixed direct payments to farmers are eliminated but replaced with enhanced downside risk protection against low prices or revenue. The new support programs may prove more or less costly than the foregone fixed payments, with farmers offered a choice between a price countercyclical program with increased reference prices and a revised moving‐average revenue guarantee program. The role of insurance is enhanced, notably by replacing past support programs with a new upland cotton revenue insurance program and dairy milk‐to‐feed margin protection program. Open policy issues that are highlighted include the costs and distortionary effects of moving‐average revenue benchmarks versus fixed reference prices, the overall level of insurance premium subsidies, the potential for overlap between commodity and insurance programs, and lastly, food, environmental, and biofuels concerns that reflect the diverse portfolio of products demanded from agriculture. In an international context, we conclude that the 2014 farm safety net likely would not have been enacted had multilateral agreement been reached on the 2008 Doha Round World Trade Organization negotiating documents. Conversely, the 2014 farm bill makes achieving those limits more difficult. Research is discussed that can elucidate the ongoing political economy of U.S. farm policy and help shape future program design. 2015-06-26 2024-08-01T02:50:22Z 2024-08-01T02:50:22Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/149975 en http://purl.umn.edu/189692 https://hdl.handle.net/10568/150463 Open Access application/pdf Wiley Orden, David; and Zulauf, Carl. 2015. Political economy of the 2014 farm bill. American Journal of Agricultural Economics 97(5): 1298-1311. https://doi.org/10.1093/ajae/aav028
spellingShingle programmes
commodities
agricultural policies
crop insurance
conservation
wto
subsidies
legislation
Orden, David
Zulauf, Carl
Political economy of the 2014 farm bill
title Political economy of the 2014 farm bill
title_full Political economy of the 2014 farm bill
title_fullStr Political economy of the 2014 farm bill
title_full_unstemmed Political economy of the 2014 farm bill
title_short Political economy of the 2014 farm bill
title_sort political economy of the 2014 farm bill
topic programmes
commodities
agricultural policies
crop insurance
conservation
wto
subsidies
legislation
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/149975
work_keys_str_mv AT ordendavid politicaleconomyofthe2014farmbill
AT zulaufcarl politicaleconomyofthe2014farmbill