On October 1, 2023, the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 \u2013 more commonly known as the 2018 Farm Bill \u2013 expired. The expiration did not come as a surprise, as Congress\u2019 timeline for reauthorizing the 2018 Farm Bill has been increasingly drawn out for a variety of reasons such that neither the House nor Senate Agriculture Committees have yet been ready to unveil their bills.<\/p>\n
Observers of federal food and agriculture policy will be familiar with the oft-repeated albeit misleading message that the impacts of an expired farm bill don\u2019t really kick in until January 2024, with the start of the new crop year. While it\u2019s true that there are new and significant impacts beginning in the new year, the consequences of allowing the 2018 Farm Bill to expire without a replacement are already beginning to mount. Thankfully, in recent days Congress has begun to turn its attention toward a much-needed extension of the 2018 Farm Bill \u2013 discussed at the end of this post. Yet until an extension is passed, many essential programs will continue to be impacted.<\/p>\n
There are three primary ways in which a program might be negatively impacted \u2013 or \u201cstranded\u201d \u2013 due to the expiration of the 2018 Farm Bill. First, a program may lack funding beyond October 1, 2023. Second, a program may lack the legal authority to continue operating beyond that same date absent a farm bill extension. And third, a program could have no funding\u00a0y<\/em>\u00a0no legal authority. With this simple framework in mind, this blog post takes a deep dive into the current and potential future impacts of the expired 2018 Farm Bill by examining which programs are stranded, and what it means for food and agriculture.<\/p>\n Due to NSAC\u00a0member advocacy during the 2018 Farm Bill<\/a>, many local and regional food system programs will not see a significant interruption following the expiration of the 2018 Farm Bill on October 1, 2023.<\/p>\n While the 2023 Local Agriculture Market Program (LAMP) awards \u2013 including the Farmers Market and Local Food Promotion, Regional Food System Partnership, and Value-Added Producer Grants \u2013 have not yet been announced, the review process has been well underway for months and we anticipate announcements will occur before the end of the year. Nevertheless, these initiatives that seek to develop new market opportunities for local farmers and food businesses could be impacted beginning in the FY2024 cycle. Despite permanent mandatory funding for LAMP, the authority for the grant program lapsed on October 1, 2023. Without an extension or reauthorization, the grant cycle may be interrupted.<\/p>\n Similarly, states should be able to finish Senior Farmers Market Nutrition (SFMNP) programming without interruptions for the remainder of the 2023 season. Many states operate their program seasonally, distributing vouchers or funds to senior citizens at the beginning of peak market seasons, giving some breathing room for Congress to reauthorize the program. However, SFMNP\u2019s operations could be impacted in calendar year 2024 if there is a significant delay in a Farm Bill reauthorization or extension.<\/p>\n USDA conservation programs will remain largely unaffected by the expiration of the Farm Bill. This is a direct result of the\u00a0Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)<\/a>, which invested in and reauthorized several conservation programs ahead of the full Farm Bill reauthorization. These programs are:<\/p>\n Each of these programs has been reauthorized through 2031 and will continue to function without further action from Congress. The next Farm Bill may change or preserve this new authorization window, but only time will tell.<\/p>\n While much of the Farm Bill-funded conservation work will continue uninterrupted, the\u00a0Conservation Reserve Program<\/a>\u00a0(CRP) will not. Administered by the\u00a0Farm Service Agency (FSA)<\/a>, CRP conserves and improves soil, protects water quality, and provides wildlife habitat by establishing long-term cover on highly erodible land or land in need of conservation buffers that has previously been in row crop production. In exchange for cost-share and rental payments, farmers remove environmentally sensitive land from production and plant resource-conserving land cover to protect soil, water, and wildlife habitat.<\/p>\n CRP\u2019s statutory authorization ended along with the rest of the Farm Bill on September 30, and as such no new work can occur within that program without action from Congress.\u00a0Effective<\/a>\u00a0as of October 1st:<\/p>\n Contracts that were approved on or before September 30 will receive annual rental and cost-share payments, and signing incentive and practice incentive payments, as applicable.<\/p>\n Farmers interested in signing up for CSP and EQIP should check their\u00a0state\u2019s application ranking dates<\/a>\u00a0and contact their\u00a0local service center<\/a>\u00a0to learn how and when to apply. For organizations interested in ACEP and RCPP,\u00a0USDA recently announced<\/a>\u00a0changes and anticipated future grant making rounds.<\/p>\n The programs highlighted so far lack the authority to operate, but do not lack funding authority \u2013 meaning that if their authority is extended, they will continue operating even without an additional infusion of funding. However, there are numerous notable programs that are currently stranded without funding. One such notable program is the National\u00a0Organic Certification Cost Share Program<\/a>\u00a0(OCCSP). OCCSP does not have \u2018permanent baseline\u2019 funding and therefore without a provision that specifically offers continued funding and authorization for OCCSP, the cost share program will expire, leaving thousands of organic farmers with a huge net increase in their annual certification costs.<\/p>\n What this means on the ground is that FSA and some state Departments of Agriculture are currently accepting 2023\u00a0<\/a>OCCSP applications using remaining 2018 Farm Bill funds. Farmers who apply for OCCSP by October 31 can still receive reimbursements even with the expiration of the 2018 Farm Bill. FSA generally announces the availability of cost share funding in April or May. Therefore, if Congress passes a Farm Bill before then with renewed funding, OCCSP should be able to operate without interruption in 2024. If, however, Congress does not include dedicated funding for OCCSP in a Farm Bill extension, this critical program will be unable to operate in 2024, unless and until a new Farm Bill is passed with new funding.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, OCCSP is not the only program without \u2018permanent baseline\u2019 beginning October 1, 2023. The Organic Production and Market Data Initiatives (ODI) and\u00a0Scholarships for 1890s Institutions<\/a>\u00a0both lack permanent baseline, and will also need dedicated funding in any Farm Bill extension.<\/p>\n Due to NSAC member advocacy during the 2018 Farm Bill, the Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Program (OREI) \u2013 like LAMP, described above \u2013 now has what is called \u2018permanent baseline\u2019 funding. This means that even if Congress extends the Farm Bill for another year, OREI is assumed to be part of that extension at its current funding level, which is $50 million annually. However, despite mandatory funding for the program, the authority for the grant program ends after 2023. Without an extension or reauthorization, the next grant cycle may be interrupted.<\/p>\n The Farming Opportunities Training and Outreach (FOTO) program, which is a combination of the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development program (BFRDP) and the Outreach and Assistance to Socially Disadvantaged and Veteran Farmers and Ranchers Program (2501), was created in the 2018 Farm Bill in part to secure mandatory baseline funding for both 2501 and BFRDP. FY2023 grants for 2501 were\u00a0just recently announced<\/a>, with new BFRDP grants soon likely to follow. Despite mandatory funding for the program, the legal authority for the grant program lapsed on October 1, 2023. Therefore, like LAMP and OREI discussed above, absent an extension or reauthorization, the next grant cycle may be interrupted.<\/p>\n By and large, the farm safety net \u2013 ranging from credit to crop insurance and commodity programs \u2013 will continue to operate with little interruption through the end of 2023.<\/p>\n En\u00a0Federal Crop Insurance Program<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 which is permanently authorized and funded at such sums as necessary in perpetuity by Congress \u2013 will continue to function without interruption in the absence of a Farm Bill reauthorization or extension. Permanent disaster programs, including the\u00a0Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program<\/a>\u00a0and programs to support livestock and fruit tree producers, are also authorized to continue.<\/p>\n The Farm Bill also permanently authorizes USDA to make and guarantee loans, for which money is allocated by Congress in the annual appropriations process. Failure to reauthorize or extend the Farm Bill is not likely to impact the availability or servicing of farm loans.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, commodity programs \u2013 including the Price Loss Coverage (PLC) and Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC) programs \u2013 will continue to function, but only for a short time. The government is obligated to make payments until the end of the 2023 crop\u2019s marketing year, or a full 12 months post-harvest into 2024.<\/p>\n If the Farm Bill is not reauthorized or extended by January 1, 2024, commodity programs will begin to be replaced with \u201cpermanent law,\u201d or non-expiring provisions established in the 1938 and 1949 Farm Bills. The first commodity to be impacted is dairy. Congress has maintained but suspended permanent law in each Farm Bill since the 1960s as a force-function to reauthorize the Farm Bill, lest the temporary suspension expire and force USDA to implement antiquated farm intervention programs.<\/p>\n Already, the consequences of allowing the 2018 Farm Bill to expire without a replacement are mounting, and the longer Congress waits to act, the greater the negative impact will be. NSAC encourages lawmakers to remain focused on passing a strong, bipartisan farm bill as soon as possible. In the meantime, an extension of the 2018 Farm Bill \u2013 with extended programmatic authorities and full funding for programs without permanent baseline \u2013 is the most critical step we can take to support farmers, ranchers, and food system stakeholders throughout the country.<\/p>\n As Congress turns its attention toward the details of an extension, they must ensure that authority is extended for key programs such as LAMP and FOTO. Importantly, programs without permanent baseline \u2013 such as OCCSP, SFMNP, Scholarships for 1890\u2019s, and ODI \u2013 must explicitly receive funding in any extension in order to continue to operate. And finally, any extension must also extend CRP\u2019s authorization, as well an extension of payment limits within EQIP and CSP.<\/p>\n <\/p>\nSistemas alimentarios locales y regionales<\/h2>\n
Conservation and Climate<\/h2>\n
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Organics and Research<\/h2>\n
Farming Opportunities Training and Outreach<\/h2>\n
Farm Safety Net<\/h2>\n
Extending the 2018 Farm Bill<\/h2>\n
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