{
  "id": "RL30924",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "RL30924",
  "active": false,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 306996,
      "date": "2002-08-08",
      "retrieved": "2016-05-24T20:06:11.528941",
      "title": "Peanut Program: Evolution from Supply Management to Market Orientation",
      "summary": "The 2002 farm bill radically overhauls the peanut program, by completely replacing the supply\nand\nprice management system in place for more than 60 years. It repeals the limit set on the amount of\npeanuts that farmers can sell domestically for food consumption, and substitutes in large part the\nrevenue this \"quota\" system with its high level of price support had guaranteed them, with an\ninfusion of annual government payments to \"historic\" peanut producers. The new program's price\nsupport and income subsidy features (covering the 2002 to 2007 crops) are similar to those\nauthorized for producers of other crops. These will ensure that \"historic\" producers receive a return\nroughly comparable to what they accessed in the past, after taking into account they will no longer\nhave to rent or buy quota. Actual returns will vary among farmers, depending on whether they had\nproduced quota peanuts and had incurred the additional cost of renting quota. As part of this historic\nchange, owners of peanut quota will be compensated for elimination of an income-generating asset.\n As background, the 1996-2001 peanut program largely kept intact the broad outlines of previous\npolicy except for two changes. Reflecting a compromise between growers and shellers (the\nmarketers of peanuts to food manufacturers) and calls by others for the program's repeal, Congress\nin 1996 reduced the quota loan rate by 10% to $610 per ton. Other changes were intended to ensure\nthe program operated at \"no-cost\" to taxpayers. The House during farm bill debate rejected program\nopponents' efforts to modify the Agriculture Committee-reported package by a 3-vote margin. From\n1996 through 1998, program opponents pressed for further change, but failed in securing passage\nof amendments offered to agriculture spending bills. In other action, three emergency farm aid\npackages in the 1999-2001 period provided a total of $170 million in supplemental income payments\nto peanut growers. Another issue that lawmakers addressed in 2000, and may again face, is whether\nto assist growers to cover their share of program losses.\n The new program reflects an approach proposed by many peanut farmers in the Southeast (the\nlargest peanut producing region ) and some in the Southwest who had concluded that the quota\nprogram could not be sustained for political and economic reasons. They were concerned that the\nquota system could not be defended much longer against opponents (food manufacturers and those\nideologically opposed to government management of a food commodity) who had sought for many\nyears to \"reform\" the program. These farmers also realized changes were needed to address\ncompetitive pressures from increased peanut and related product imports under the terms of current\nand anticipated trade agreements, and that additional budget resources made available for commodity\nprograms could facilitate a policy change.\n With peanuts marketed internationally at a price much lower than the level at which the past\nprogram supported the U.S. price of food peanuts, the peanut quota structure and import restrictions\n(by controlling the supply and significantly affecting the price) placed the cost of the peanut program\nlargely upon the buyers of peanuts (manufacturers and consumers). The new program's changes shift\nthese costs largely to the federal government and taxpayers.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
      "active": false,
      "formats": [
        {
          "format": "PDF",
          "encoding": null,
          "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/RL30924",
          "sha1": "7a18f7a9837ca61d65a31491aa18a3d925b2cca1",
          "filename": "files/20020808_RL30924_7a18f7a9837ca61d65a31491aa18a3d925b2cca1.pdf",
          "images": null
        },
        {
          "format": "HTML",
          "filename": "files/20020808_RL30924_7a18f7a9837ca61d65a31491aa18a3d925b2cca1.html"
        }
      ],
      "topics": []
    }
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Agricultural Policy"
  ]
}