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Farm Bill Extended
Farmers have a little more stability as they plan for their 2013 crops now that a U.S. farm bill is once again in effect.
Both chambers of Congress had their own versions of a new five-year bill, but the only thing the chambers could agree on was to pass something else.
Part of what finally pushed them into action was the so-called dairy cliff.
On January 1, old milk subsidies would have kicked in again, potentially doubling the price of milk for consumers. So both chambers of Congress simply extended the 2008 farm bill for another year.
The Senate and House versions would have cut $23 billion and $35 billion respectively, so the extended 2008 bill would be much more expensive, if it was fully funded.
"While the bill was authorized across the board with all the titles and programs that are part of the farm bill, not all those titles were funded, or appropriated, money," Mark Gebhards, Illinois Farm Bureau Executive Director of Governmental Affairs, said. "There's a number of unfunded titles within this bill."
Funded programs include nutrition programs like food stamps and direct payments to farmers.
But that doesn't mean farmers can go ahead and sign up for the extended programs just yet.
"The big thing with a farm bill extension, it hasn't happened very often," USDA Farm Service Agency officer Rick Graden said. "So they have to go to the office of general counsel, which is our attorneys, and they have to interpret what the bill actually says, and how the extension was signed and how it was passed, and that's what we have to do first before we hold sign-up."
But as the new Congress begins, there's no guarantees
"The Senate had a version of the bill, the House had a version of the bill," Graden said. "So they've got the skeleton set, so they could either really pass one fast, and do away with everything extended, or--I mean, there's just numerous things that can happen. Right now is just an interesting time with the USDA and government and the farm bill. It's anybody's guess."
But the biggest victory for farmers was that while the inheritance tax rate jumped to 40 percent, the exemption was maintained at $5 million instead of dropping to $1 million, and it's indexed to inflation.
"With what land is going for, which is well over $10,000 per acre in this area, it's important to have that indexing for inflation as a part of the package," Gebhards said. "And so we were able to get that. It's a little higher tax rate than
we'd like to see, but the good news is that this is permanent."
As to where the next farm bill heads from here, Gebhards estimates that both chambers will start from their previous bills, and discussions will likely start in February, as part of budget debates.
He looks for the nutrition funding part of the bill to be debated the most, since it makes up 75 percent of the bill's total funding. That provides the funding for programs like food stamps.
Farm Bill Extended
Farmers have a little more stability as they plan for their 2013 crops now that a U.S. farm bill is once again in effect.
Both chambers of Congress had their own versions of a new five-year bill, but the only thing the chambers could agree on was to pass something else.
Part of what finally pushed them into action was the so-called dairy cliff.
On January 1, old milk subsidies would have kicked in again, potentially doubling the price of milk for consumers. So both chambers of Congress simply extended the 2008 farm bill for another year.
The Senate and House versions would have cut $23 billion and $35 billion respectively, so the extended 2008 bill would be much more expensive, if it was fully funded.
"While the bill was authorized across the board with all the titles and programs that are part of the farm bill, not all those titles were funded, or appropriated, money," Mark Gebhards, Illinois Farm Bureau Executive Director of Governmental Affairs, said. "There's a number of unfunded titles within this bill."
Funded programs include nutrition programs like food stamps and direct payments to farmers.
But that doesn't mean farmers can go ahead and sign up for the extended programs just yet.
"The big thing with a farm bill extension, it hasn't happened very often," USDA Farm Service Agency officer Rick Graden said. "So they have to go to the office of general counsel, which is our attorneys, and they have to interpret what the bill actually says, and how the extension was signed and how it was passed, and that's what we have to do first before we hold sign-up."
But as the new Congress begins, there's no guarantees
"The Senate had a version of the bill, the House had a version of the bill," Graden said. "So they've got the skeleton set, so they could either really pass one fast, and do away with everything extended, or--I mean, there's just numerous things that can happen. Right now is just an interesting time with the USDA and government and the farm bill. It's anybody's guess."
But the biggest victory for farmers was that while the inheritance tax rate jumped to 40 percent, the exemption was maintained at $5 million instead of dropping to $1 million, and it's indexed to inflation.
"With what land is going for, which is well over $10,000 per acre in this area, it's important to have that indexing for inflation as a part of the package," Gebhards said. "And so we were able to get that. It's a little higher tax rate than
we'd like to see, but the good news is that this is permanent."
As to where the next farm bill heads from here, Gebhards estimates that both chambers will start from their previous bills, and discussions will likely start in February, as part of budget debates.
He looks for the nutrition funding part of the bill to be debated the most, since it makes up 75 percent of the bill's total funding. That provides the funding for programs like food stamps.
