Without House Action, Many Farm Bill Conservation and Energy Programs Expired September 30

The Congressional authorizations for many of the programs supported by the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 came to an end September 30. Congress failed to enact a new farm bill before it recessed for campaigns and the elections, so dozens of programs – including vital conservation and energy programs – have come to a halt and are now hanging in legislative limbo.

In an October 1 Press Release , Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack observed that " Many programs and policies of the U.S. Department of Agriculture were authorized under the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008 ("2008 Farm Bill") through September 30, 2012. These include a great number of critical programs impacting millions of Americans, including programs for farm commodity and price support, conservation, research, nutrition, food safety, and agricultural trade. As of today, USDA's authority or funding to deliver many of these programs has expired, leaving USDA with far fewer tools to help strengthen American agriculture and grow a rural economy that supports 1 in 12 American jobs. Authority and funding for additional programs is set to expire in the coming months ."

The two most expensive programs covered by the Farm Bill – the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Crop Insurance – will continue to be funded and implemented through alternative legislative authorities. A number of key conservation programs and the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) will also be continued temporarily under separate legislation.

The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) reports : " The working lands conservation programs — Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP), Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP), and Agricultural Management Assistance (AMA) Program — had their legal authorities extended through 2014 by the Agricultural Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year (FY) 2012. The same was true for the Farmland Protection Program (FPP), but not for the other easement programs — the Grassland Reserve Program (GRP) and Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) — and not for the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) ."

However, NSAC goes on to report that " CSP would be in good shape (due to the extension until 2014) except for a huge new problem in the new Continuing Resolution. The Continuing Resolution has the effect of limiting CSP funding to just the amount necessary to pay for existing contracts but not enough to pay for any new ones. At least until Congress takes corrective action, hopefully during the lame duck session, new FY 2013 CSP enrollments are on hold. " For a comprehensive analysis of the impacts of the expired farm bill, see the full NSAC FAQ sheet .

Except for REAP, all the other agriculture energy programs have expired.

The Senate has completed its work on its version of the 2012 Farm Bill Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act of 2012 (S. 3240) in June, and the House Agriculture Committee completed its version, the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management (FARRM) Act (H.R. 6083) , in July. But the House leadership said that they did not have the votes on their side of the aisle to be able to pass the bill. The House leadership has promised to return to the Farm Bill after the elections.

For previous SBFF posts on the Farm Bill, click here (July 13) and here (July 6) .