US Senate Passes Five Year Farm Bill

The US Senate passed its version of a five-year Farm Bill on Monday, less than a month after that chamber’s agriculture committee cleared the legislation. Many observers warn, however, that the real fight will be when the House of Representatives attempts to pass its own version of the agricultural spending legislation.

The Senate version approved this week is set to cost taxpayers US$955 billion over ten years. Along with covering agricultural spending, the Farm Bill touches on other areas of US policy, such as international food aid and environmental conservation.

The bulk of the spending continues to go towards nutrition - $US760 billion over the coming decade. Crop insurance and commodity spending are the next big ticket items at US$89 billion and US$41 billion, respectively, over the same period. Amendments to the bill include a limit on crop insurance premium subsidies for farmers earning more than US$750,000 per year.

Farm Bills have historically been a compromise between food stamp-concerned urban districts and rural members interested in spending on commodities. A partisan divide on food stamps may upend this delicate balance.

Overall, the House legislation cuts US$40 billion per year over the next decade, when compared to the bill’s 2008 iteration. Nearly half of those savings, US$20.5 billion, come from a reduction in nutrition programmes. The Senate’s recently approved bill cut similar programmes by only US$4 billion.

Many Democrats in the House have vowed to fight the cuts, while some Republicans have called for removing food stamp-related nutrition spending from the bill altogether.