{ "id": "R44914", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "number": "R44914", "active": true, "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "versions": [ { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 463455, "date": "2017-08-11", "retrieved": "2017-08-24T18:46:07.119725", "title": "Farm Safety-Net Payments Under the 2014 Farm Bill: Comparison by Program Crop", "summary": "The 2014 farm bill (Agricultural Act of 2014, P.L. 113-79) authorizes farm safety-net programs for the five crop years of 2014 through 2018. This includes revenue support for 20 \u201ccovered commodities\u201d under either the Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC) program or the Price Loss Coverage (PLC) program and interim financing and floor price support for an expanded list of 24 \u201cloan commodities\u201d under the Marketing Assistance Loan (MAL) program. Outlays under the MAL, ARC, and PLC programs are funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture\u2019s (USDA\u2019s) Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC).\nIn addition, federally subsidized crop insurance is available for over 100 agricultural commodities\u2014including both covered and loan commodities. Federal crop insurance is permanently authorized by the Federal Crop Insurance Act (7 U.S.C. 1501 et seq.) but is periodically modified by new farm bill legislation. The principal subsidy component of federal crop insurance is premium subsidies that pay for an average of 62% of the cost of buying an insurance policy since 2014. Premium subsidies are funded by USDA\u2019s Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC). \nThrough the first three years of the 2014 farm bill (2014 through 2016), USDA has spent over $38 billion on commodity-specific farm program outlays. Annually, commodity-specific outlays are estimated at $12.7 billion per year, including $7.5 billion for CCC programs and $5.2 billion in FCIC crop insurance premium subsidies. When farm program payments are linked to specific crops, they can influence relative market incentives and resource allocations. Furthermore, significant differences in spending across program crops may have regional or geographic implications.\nThis report looks at available CCC and FCIC data for the major program crops and compares relative support using several different measures: absolute payments, payments per acre, payments as a share of the value of production, and payments as a share of the cost of production. In addition, price and income support levels are compared to market prices. By all of these measures, there has been substantial variation in relative support across program crops. Annual corn payments account for 46% of all CCC and FCIC commodity-specific outlays; however, corn also has the most planted acres and the largest annual value of production. When payments are compared per acre, and as a share of either the value or the cost of production for each crop, then peanuts and rice receive higher levels of support than do other program crops. Also significant is the absence of any net program outlays for the U.S. dairy sector under the 2014 farm bill.\nOne particular analytical method for comparing price-protection levels across program crops involves PLC reference prices. PLC reference prices for each commodity are adjusted such that 35%, 40%, or 45% of monthly farm price observations fall below the adjusted reference price during the January 2008 through May 2017 period. The choice of these reference levels is arbitrary but facilitates comparison. Important differences in support levels emerge. Peanuts and cottonseed (included for comparative purposes as a hypothetical program crop) receive significantly higher price protection levels compared to the other program crops. Canola and sorghum also have above-average support levels relative to the remaining program crops. In contrast, soybeans and pulse crops receive lower levels of price protection.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/R44914", "sha1": "103c39ebd6a915ac409b54711f87ef2b54ae0703", "filename": "files/20170811_R44914_103c39ebd6a915ac409b54711f87ef2b54ae0703.html", "images": { "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R44914_files&id=/4.png": "files/20170811_R44914_images_3f63fd7ceb3fed5430bed5cc3267c3c0336210a2.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R44914_files&id=/12.png": "files/20170811_R44914_images_341a796ba9fd0ced08970ae9ce58b37ac17e4c82.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R44914_files&id=/8.png": "files/20170811_R44914_images_adfb2e8d436326681b747b6ea4320fcf6350f8f9.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R44914_files&id=/5.png": "files/20170811_R44914_images_090408e9daa28bbac23207fa89944bcbf6f72369.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R44914_files&id=/0.png": "files/20170811_R44914_images_b0cfa19fb1f9758f1aa1ec4940e182dafd9e4594.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R44914_files&id=/18.png": "files/20170811_R44914_images_489188cfe93952b8c9672b127e644151547d2dc8.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R44914_files&id=/10.png": "files/20170811_R44914_images_3e3bf0d813c8366ad8f8c272a8cd2cfb7d921781.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R44914_files&id=/15.png": "files/20170811_R44914_images_f3e4b720f34565413a903ae337af3dc9d1be92ec.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R44914_files&id=/13.png": "files/20170811_R44914_images_2c11cb9b96279a46ef463919636b142aae73effc.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R44914_files&id=/1.png": "files/20170811_R44914_images_95cd531114d5b8ea4342f1158596ea5cb3b7f733.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R44914_files&id=/2.png": "files/20170811_R44914_images_0f858c0c59ecc0b3b6bc5f8ae5e812b6163c3ec3.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R44914_files&id=/17.png": "files/20170811_R44914_images_8eed8da32f2b77867ce0b8ebab1a82d39f44373e.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R44914_files&id=/19.png": "files/20170811_R44914_images_3ebe585a9271fae388adeff7e59359806244704a.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R44914_files&id=/9.png": "files/20170811_R44914_images_2f89d4119d881a347d92d0b1ec1cd1326220c940.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R44914_files&id=/16.png": "files/20170811_R44914_images_c3450146cb4d2fc74c404e1e5de60daad34aea93.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R44914_files&id=/14.png": "files/20170811_R44914_images_2b12ac6ec570bd6d4a3391e4588abfc39b246682.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R44914_files&id=/6.png": "files/20170811_R44914_images_00e0a251ed38cf2121c80234577c236c90db5753.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R44914_files&id=/7.png": "files/20170811_R44914_images_238e5803cdefccb1638d9c3488c98e719411e083.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R44914_files&id=/11.png": "files/20170811_R44914_images_be1570d84bbffd6d3339ca561f8817564f9d62a6.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R44914_files&id=/3.png": "files/20170811_R44914_images_de2303db59f2eaec59280ca92cf054957fe263c5.png" } }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/R44914", "sha1": "54f593797b6a04de56ab166608e5237e0ab0d108", "filename": "files/20170811_R44914_54f593797b6a04de56ab166608e5237e0ab0d108.pdf", "images": {} } ], "topics": [ { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4919, "name": "Farm Support" } ] }, { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 463163, "date": "2017-08-10", "retrieved": "2017-08-16T15:34:14.551689", "title": "Farm Safety-Net Payments Under the 2014 Farm Bill: Comparison by Program Crop", "summary": "The 2014 farm bill (Agricultural Act of 2014, P.L. 113-79) authorizes farm safety-net programs for the five crop years of 2014 through 2018. This includes revenue support for 20 \u201ccovered commodities\u201d under either the Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC) program or the Price Loss Coverage (PLC) program and interim financing and floor price support for an expanded list of 24 \u201cloan commodities\u201d under the Marketing Assistance Loan (MAL) program. Outlays under the MAL, ARC, and PLC programs are funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture\u2019s (USDA) Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC).\nIn addition, federally subsidized crop insurance is available for over 100 agricultural commodities\u2014including both covered and loan commodities. Federal crop insurance is permanently authorized by the Federal Crop Insurance Act (7 U.S.C. 1501 et seq.) but is periodically modified by new farm bill legislation. The principal subsidy component of federal crop insurance is premium subsidies that pay for an average of 62% of the cost of buying an insurance policy since 2014. Premium subsidies are funded by USDA\u2019s Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC). \nThrough the first three years of the 2014 farm bill (2014 through 2016), USDA has spent over $38 billion on commodity-specific farm program outlays. Annually, commodity-specific outlays are estimated at $12.7 billion per year, including $7.5 billion for CCC programs and $5.2 billion in FCIC crop insurance premium subsidies. When farm program payments are linked to specific crops, they can influence relative market incentives and resource allocations. Furthermore, significant differences in spending across program crops may have regional or geographic implications.\nThis report looks at available CCC and FCIC data for the major program crops and compares relative support using several different measures: absolute payments, payments per acre, payments as a share of the value of production, and payments as a share of the cost of production. In addition, price and income support levels are compared to market prices. By all of these measures, there has been substantial variation in relative support across program crops. Annual corn payments account for 46% of all CCC and FCIC commodity-specific outlays; however, corn also has the most planted acres and the largest annual value of production. When payments are compared per acre, and as a share of either the value or the cost of production for each crop, then peanuts and rice receive higher levels of support than do other program crops.\nOne particular analytical method for comparing price-protection levels across program crops involves PLC reference prices. PLC reference prices for each commodity are adjusted such that 35%, 40%, or 45% of monthly farm price observations fall below the adjusted reference price during the January 2008 through May 2017 period. The choice of these reference levels is arbitrary but facilitates comparison. Important differences in support levels emerge. Peanuts and cottonseed (included for comparative purposes as a hypothetical program crop) receive significantly higher price protection levels compared to the other program crops. Canola and sorghum also have above-average support levels relative to the remaining program crops. In contrast, soybeans and pulse crops receive lower levels of price protection.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/R44914", "sha1": "ec2b17564cd585a55d4119e9f17701bdea062ad9", "filename": "files/20170810_R44914_ec2b17564cd585a55d4119e9f17701bdea062ad9.html", "images": null }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/R44914", "sha1": "56ada565a9220aa76cd49fec354a1a607b130881", "filename": "files/20170810_R44914_56ada565a9220aa76cd49fec354a1a607b130881.pdf", "images": null } ], "topics": [ { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4919, "name": "Farm Support" } ] } ], "topics": [ "Agricultural Policy", "Economic Policy" ] }