Budget Issues facing a 2013 Farm Bill: CBO Report Released

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CBO Offers Farm Bill Budgetary Analysis

Interested in a complete picture of budget issues related to the 2013 Farm Bill? The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a report on these issues on June 3. The analysis that lies therein may be of interest to anyone who desires a sober analysis of how the Farm Bill is funded and what can be reasonably expected of this bill.

Specialist in Agriculture Policy for the CBO Jim Monke writes: “The desire by many to redesign farm policy and reallocate the remaining farm bill baseline—in a sequestration and deficit reduction environment—is driving much of the farm bill debate this year. Several high-profile congressional and Administration proposals for deficit reduction have specifically targeted agricultural programs with mandatory funding. The political dynamics of sequestration and broader deficit reduction goals leave open difficult questions about how much and when the farm bill baseline may be reduced. In this context, Congress faces difficult choices about how much total support to provide for agriculture, and how to allocate that support among competing constituencies.”

Essentially, we will likely see cuts; the question is how much and for what!

For continued Farm Bill coverage, keep abreast here at beginningfarmers.org. Our most recent updates on progress in the 2013 Farm Bill can be found here and here.