January 29, 2014. Congress recently reached agreement as to a new, and comprehensive, Farm Bill that will be in force over the next 5-years. This legislation, which is slated to receive a final vote in the House this week and final approval in the Senate as early as next week, is 959 pages long and will cost roughly $956.4 billion over 10 years. The chart below, produced by Brad Plummer of the Washington Post’s Wonk Blog, provides a simple visual representation of the agreed to Farm Bill’s spending breakdown.
The currently agreed to Farm Bill contains of about $19 billion to various farm programs, including direct payments to farmers. Roughly $8 billion in cuts were approved concerning the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (“SNAP” – Food Stamps) and an additional $6 billion will be saved by cutting the number of conservation programs operated by the Agriculture Department and its agencies.
Many Ag related Businesses, Associations, and Organizations are still reviewing the comprehensive agreement; however, the early opinions suggest a favorable reception to the agreed to Farm Bill. As such, many of these Ag related entities are pushing Congress to move forward with quickly approving the Farm Bill.
