Page 51 - Farm Bill Series_The 7 Things You Should Know

Non-traditional agriculture and small programs. Some Democrats, including Debbie
Stabenow, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Committee, and Rep. Chellie
Pingree, an organic farmer from Maine, want to provide financial assistance to agricultural
interests who don’t represent traditional, large-scale agriculture, including urban farming
projects, local, small-scale producers, farmers markets and organic farms.

Stabenow sees a political benefit to broadening the benefits of the bill. "Anything that we can do
that builds a coalition and brings people in to understand the importance of food policy and the
food economy will help us pass the farm bill," she said.

Those initiatives are vital to attracting some Democratic votes, but the amounts are likely to be
modest. But there’s a hitch: Several of these programs have little or no baseline. Lawmakers
reduced CBO’s 10-year cost estimate, or “score,” for the programs by providing most or all of
the funding in the first five years.

According to the Congressional Research Service, there are 37 programs in all that will lack
baseline beyond the current farm bill. The 2014 farm bill provided $2.6 billion to those 37
programs over five years, or 0.5 percent of the law’s total spending, according to CRS. The
energy and nutrition titles each have seven programs without baseline after fiscal 2018. The
conservation and miscellaneous sections each have five.
Not all of the 37 programs were intended to be permanent. The Foundation for Food and
Agriculture Research, is something of an anomaly. FFAR was established with $200 million in
what was intended to be one-time seed money. Another $200 million was earmarked in the bill
for a series of pilot projects testing various methods of helping SNAP recipients find jobs or
better-paying employment.

The other programs without baseline will need new funding if they are to continue include:

-Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program, which provides grants to colleges
and extension services to train new producers. The 2014 farm bill gave the program $20 million
a year through fiscal 2018.

-Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative. It was also funded at $20 million a
year through FY2018.

-Food Insecurity Nutrition Incentives Program, which funds projects to increase fruit and
vegetable consumption among SNAP beneficiaries. The program was provided $100 million
over five years in varying amounts each year.

-Value Added Producer Grants Program, which provides grants for processing and marketing
agricultural products. It was provided a total of $63 million.
-Rural Microentrepreneur Assistance Program, which provides small loans and grants to
entrepreneurs who don’t benefit from traditional USDA assistance. It was funded at $3 million a
year.

-Farmers Market and Local Food Promotion Program, which assists in development of
farmers markets, roadside stands, community-supported agriculture (CSAs), agritourism and
other projects. It was provided $150 million, or $30 million a year.
www.Agri-Pulse.com 49