Page 57 - Farm Bill Series_The 7 Things You Should Know

With the exception of the late 1990s, overall U.S. support has declined over the last few decades,
USDA Chief Economist Rob Johansson pointed out in a recent presentation (see chart).

Essence of the farm safety net
Since the Great Depression in the 1930s, the federal government has often responded to disasters
on the farm with attempts to better manage risk, but some of the responses have worked better
than others. In modern times, the Congressional Research Service noted that there is a collection
of programs that make up the “farm safety net.’ These include:

1. Farm commodity price and income support programs under Title I.
2. Federal crop insurance under the Federal Crop Insurance Act of 1980

3. Disaster assistance programs under Title XII of the 2008 farm bill.
In a 2012 report on Farm Safety Net Programs, CRS provided this overview of programs that
were authorized in the 2008 farm bill:

By the end of the 2008 farm bill, it was widely accepted that “ad hoc” disaster programs were
not effective. Oftentimes, Congress lagged for years in making payments and farmers sometimes
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