Previewing the Next Farm Bill: Unfunded and
Early-Expiring Provisions

Jim Monke
Specialist in Agricultural Policy
September 29, 2010
Congressional Research Service
7-5700
www.crs.gov
R41433
CRS Report for Congress
P
repared for Members and Committees of Congress

Previewing the Next Farm Bill: Unfunded and Early-Expiring Provisions

Summary
The Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (P.L. 110-246, the 2008 farm bill) authorizes
most federal farm and food policies. It also provides the mandatory funding for many farm bill
programs, including the farm commodity programs and some nutrition, conservation, research,
bioenergy, and rural development programs. Funding to write the next farm bill will be based on
the baseline projection of the cost of these farm bill programs by the Congressional Budget Office
(CBO), and on varying budgetary assumptions about whether programs will continue.
Some farm bill programs have baseline beyond the end of the 2008 farm bill, while others do not.
Thirty-seven programs that received mandatory funds during the 2008 farm bill are not assumed
to continue from a budgetary perspective because they do not have a budgetary baseline beyond
FY2012. If policymakers want to continue these programs in the next farm bill, they will need to
pay for the programs with other offsets. Depending on the approach used to estimate a cost to
extend the 37 programs for five years, $9 billion or $10 billion of offsets from other sources may
be needed. This is about 4% of the $283 billion five-year total cost of the 2008 farm bill when it
was enacted, or 11% of the approximately $100 billion five-year cost if the nutrition title is
excluded. Finding this level of offsets may be a difficult task in a tight budget environment,
especially when many observers believe that the next farm bill might be written within the
confines of the existing baseline.
The 37 provisions without baseline beyond FY2012 are spread among 12 of the 2008 farm bill’s
15 titles. The title with the most such provisions is the energy title (8), followed by conservation
(5), nutrition (5), and horticulture and organic agriculture (5). Just three provisions—the
agricultural disaster assistance program, the Wetlands Reserve Program, and the Biomass Crop
Assistance Program, each with uncertainty about its future cost—account for nearly 75% of the
$9 billion or $10 billion total.
The 2008 farm bill’s authorizations generally expire at the end of FY2012, or with the 2012 crop
year for the farm commodity programs. Separate from the funding issue, six farm bill provisions
have an expiration date before the end of FY2012. These include the new supplemental
agricultural disaster assistance program, and the suspension of term limits that allows some
farmers to continue receiving guaranteed farm operating loans. Some tax provisions that are
outside the jurisdiction of the agriculture committees were included in the farm bill and also
expire early, including a conservation tax deduction and the tariff on imported ethanol.

Congressional Research Service

Previewing the Next Farm Bill: Unfunded and Early-Expiring Provisions

Contents
Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 1
Programs Without Baseline After FY2012 .................................................................................. 2
Programs Grouped by Title of the 2008 Farm Bill ................................................................. 3
Programs Grouped by Degree of Cost Uncertainty ................................................................ 4
Programs Grouped by Duration of Use of Mandatory Funding .............................................. 5
Early-Expiring Provisions ......................................................................................................... 10

Tables
Table 1. Titles in the 2008 Farm Bill Containing Programs
Without Baseline After FY2012 ............................................................................................... 3
Table 2. Programs in the 2008 Farm Bill Without Budget Baseline After FY2012 ....................... 6
Table 3. Early-Expiring Provisions in the 2008 Farm Bill .......................................................... 11

Contacts
Author Contact Information ...................................................................................................... 12
Acknowledgments .................................................................................................................... 12

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Previewing the Next Farm Bill: Unfunded and Early-Expiring Provisions

Introduction
The Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (P.L. 110-246)—also referred to as the 2008
farm bill—was enacted into law in June 2008 and authorizes most federal farm and food
policies.1 The farm bill also provides funding for mandatory programs because they were paid for
at the time the farm bill was enacted. These amounts are shown in the Congressional Budget
Office (CBO) budget scores and baseline projections for mandatory spending (direct spending).2
The farm bill’s mandatory programs include the farm commodity programs, some nutrition and
conservation programs, and various research, bioenergy, and rural development programs.3
Some farm bill programs have baseline beyond the end of the 2008 farm bill, while others do not.
Programs with a continuing baseline are assumed to continue under current law from a budget
perspective, and have their own funding if policymakers want them to continue. That future
funding also may be used as a budgetary offset. However, 37 programs receiving mandatory
funding do not have baseline beyond the 2008 farm bill (Table 1 and Table 2) and are not
assumed to continue under budget rules. The estimated $9 billion or $10 billion needed to
continue them for five years will have to be offset if policymakers want them to continue.
Given the timing of the farm bill’s expiration, the 112th Congress likely will consider a new farm
bill. Moreover, because of tight budget constraints, the current chairman of the House Agriculture
Committee reportedly has said that he would like to begin developing legislation in the first
session of the 112th Congress,4 although leaders in the Senate Agriculture Committee reportedly
do not share that view.5 Regardless of timing and the outcome of the midterm elections, the list of
programs without a budget baseline beyond FY2012 may inform some of the policy debates
about what programs to continue and how to pay for them.
Separate from the funding issue, the 2008 farm bill’s provisions generally expire at the end of
FY2012, or with the 2012 crop year in the case of the farm commodity programs. But six
provisions expire early (Table 3). Several bills in the 111th Congress have proposed extending
some of these early-expiring provisions, and the 112th Congress may see more such bills.

1 For more background, see CRS Report RS22131, What Is the “Farm Bill”?, by Renée Johnson.
2 The CBO baseline projection is an estimate at a particular point in time of what federal spending on mandatory
programs likely would be under current law. Actual outlays in the future may be higher or lower depending on market
conditions or participation, with no corresponding additional costs or savings being charged or credited to the
agriculture committees. The baseline serves as a benchmark or starting point for the budget. When new provisions are
introduced that affect mandatory spending, their impact (or “score”) is measured as a difference from the baseline.
Increases in cost above the baseline may be subject to budget constraints such as PAYGO. CBO develops the baseline
under the supervision of the House and Senate Budget Committees. For more information, see CRS Report 98-560,
Baselines and Scorekeeping in the Federal Budget Process, by Bill Heniff Jr.
3 The farm bill also makes “authorizations of appropriations” to fund discretionary programs, but these funds are not
made available, nor paid for, in the farm bill. Discretionary appropriations are at the separate discretion of the
appropriations committees and are outside the scope of this report. For more on discretionary appropriations, see CRS
Report R40721, Agriculture and Related Agencies: FY2010 Appropriations, coordinated by Jim Monke.
4 Community News Weekly (Saratoga Springs, NY), “House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson
Discusses Farm Bill Issues with Saratoga County Farmers,” September 11, 2010, at http://cnweekly.com/articles/2010/
09/11/news/doc4c86e226a0de3918903440.txt.
5 AgWeek, “Chambliss: Writing Farm Bill Early ‘Not Practical,’” August 10, 2010, at http://www.agweek.com/event/
article/id/16909/.
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Programs Without Baseline After FY2012
Thirty-seven provisions in the 2008 farm bill received mandatory budget authority but are not
assumed to receive such funding in the budget baseline beyond the end of the farm bill. This issue
concerns some observers because a new farm bill would not have funding in the baseline budget
to continue these programs. If policymakers want to continue these programs, they will need to
pay for the programs with offsets from other sources.
The amount of mandatory funds that might be needed to extend these 37 programs is estimated
here to be about $9 billion or $10 billion over a five-year period, depending on the approach to
estimate costs (Table 1).6 Either estimate is about 4% of the $283 billion five-year total cost of
the 2008 farm bill, or 11% of the approximately $100 billion five-year cost if the nutrition title is
excluded.7 It would cost even more to try to extend them for a longer time so that they could have
baseline beyond the next farm bill.
Normally, a program that receives mandatory funding in the last year of its authorization will be
assumed to continue at that level of funding in the budget baseline as if there were no change in
policy. This allows major farm bill provisions such as the farm commodity programs or nutrition
assistance to be reauthorized periodically without assuming that funding will cease or following
zero-based budgeting. However, some programs may not be assumed to continue in the budget
baseline beyond the end of a farm bill because:8
• the program did not receive new mandatory budget authority during the last year
of a farm bill, or
• the baseline during the last year of a farm bill is below a minimum $50 million
scoring threshold that is needed to continue a baseline, or
• the budget committees did not give the program a baseline in the years beyond
the farm bill in order to reduce the program’s 10-year cost at the time the farm
bill was written.
The 37 programs without baseline beyond FY2012 can be grouped in several ways: by title of the
farm bill, by the degree of uncertainty in the amount of the cost, and by the duration of the use of
mandatory funding in the 2008 farm bill.

6 Estimates are derived under two different approaches discussed in the next section: (1) the CBO cost at the time of
enactment in 2008, and (2) the most recent CBO baseline of program costs. Separately, a $9 billion cost to continue
programs without baseline has been suggested by the chief economist of the House Agriculture Committee. See Craig
Jagger, “Federal Budget Issues & the Next Farm Bill,” at the Farm Foundation Forum, “Budget Implications for the
Next Farm Bill,” September 14, 2010, slide 45, at http://www.farmfoundation.org/news/articlefiles/363-
Jagger_Budget_Color_Farm%20Found_09-14-10.pdf.
7 For more background on farm bill baselines and actual spending, see CRS Report R41195, Actual Farm Bill Spending
and Cost Estimates
, by Jim Monke and Renée Johnson.
8 Section 257 of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (P.L. 99-177, 2 U.S.C. 907), as
amended, specifies that expiring mandatory spending programs are assumed to continue in the budget baseline if they
have outlays of more than $50 million in the current year and were established before the Balanced Budget Act of 1997
was enacted. Programs established later are not automatically assumed to continue, and are assessed program by
program in consultation with the House and Senate Budget Committees. This rule expired in September 2006, but CBO
continues to prepare baselines following this methodology (CBO, The Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years
2010 to 2020
, pp. 10, 63, and 144, at http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/108xx/doc10871/01-26-Outlook.pdf).
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Previewing the Next Farm Bill: Unfunded and Early-Expiring Provisions

Programs Grouped by Title of the 2008 Farm Bill
Programs without baseline beyond FY2012 are spread among 12 of the 2008 farm bill’s 15 titles
(Table 1). The title with the most such provisions is the energy title (8), followed by conservation
(5), nutrition (5), and horticulture and organic agriculture (5).
The ranking among the titles is much different based on the dollar amounts that might be needed
to continue the provisions in the next farm bill (the right half of Table 1). The title with the
largest cost to extend programs without baseline is agricultural disaster assistance ($4.8 billion or
$3.6 billion, depending on the estimation approach), followed by conservation ($2.1 billion or
$3.2 billion), energy ($1.1 billion or $1.9 billion), and research ($383 million).
Table 1. Titles in the 2008 Farm Bill Containing Programs
Without Baseline After FY2012
(titles in the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 with provisions that receive mandatory budget
authority, but are not assumed to continue in the budget baseline beyond FY2012)
Cost to extend provisions
in the next farm bill under
two different approaches



($ million, 5 years)
Number
CBO score
CBO
of
at 2008
baseline in
Farm Bill Title (ranked by number) provisions
Farm Bill Title (ranked by cost)
enactmenta March 2010a
Energy 8
Agricultural
Disaster
Assistance
4,846
3,680
Conservation 5
Conservation
2,105
3,189
Nutrition 5
Energy 1,112
1,878
Horticulture and Organic Agriculture
5
Research
383
383
Rural Development
3
Miscel aneous
175
175
Research 3
Rural
Development
150
150
Trade 2
Trade 144
144
Miscel aneous
2
Horticulture and Organic Agriculture
95
95
Farm Commodity Programs
1
Farm Commodity Programs
50
50
Forestry 1
Forestry 39
39
Livestock 1
Nutrition 31
31
Agricultural Disaster Assistance
1
Livestock
1
1
Total 37
Total 9,131
9,815
Source: Compiled by CRS using P.L. 110-246, the CBO score of the 2008 farm bill (at enactment against the
March 2008 baseline, May 12, 2008, unpublished spreadsheet), and the March 2010 CBO baseline (unpublished).
Notes: Provisions selected had mandatory budget authority at some time during the 2008 farm bill, but do not
have baseline beyond FY2012. Amounts are estimates and are the five-year funding specified in statute or, if
unspecified, either the CBO score at enactment in 2008 or the CBO estimate in the March 2010 baseline. The
amount for biomass crop assistance (part of Energy) is adjusted for expectations of future implementation; the
amount for disaster assistance is a four-year cost like the current program (see Table 2 for details).
a. If a fixed amount was specified in the 2008 farm bill, then that amount is used in both cost columns,
regardless of the source of data for programs with estimated costs.
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Previewing the Next Farm Bill: Unfunded and Early-Expiring Provisions

Programs Grouped by Degree of Cost Uncertainty
Farm bill funding typically is specified as either (1) a fixed dollar amount or (2) “such sums as
necessary” to operate a program under provisions that are specified in law (the “type” column in
Table 2). For the latter category, CBO estimates how much the provision is expected to cost. The
amount of funding that might be needed to continue these provisions in the next farm bill is
uncertain and may be an important factor affecting policymakers when the cost of the next farm
bill is determined.
For the fixed dollar amount programs (type = “fixed”), the five-year cost to continue a provision
is assumed to equal the five-year sum of the funding specified in the 2008 farm bill. Given the
likelihood of a “baseline farm bill”—that is, a farm bill without additional funding to increase
spending—many people believe that it is unlikely that any or many of these programs could see
an increase above what they received in the 2008 farm bill.
Fixed-dollar funding was specified for 33 of the 37 provisions in the 2008 farm that do not have
baselines beyond 2012. The total five-year amount for these 33 programs was about $2.4 billion,
which is about 25% of the total of the provisions without baseline beyond FY2012 (Table 2).9
For the “such sums as necessary” programs (type = “estimated), the estimated five-year cost to
extend a provision was computed under two different approaches:
• the CBO cost estimates at the time of enactment of the 2008 farm bill, and
• the most recent CBO baseline projection based on more recent estimates.
As with the fixed-dollar amounts, these are unofficial estimates in the absence of projections by
CBO that will not be available until legislative proposals for the next farm bill are developed.
Presenting estimates from both approaches helps provide a range of costs and indicates where
uncertainty is more apparent.10
In the 2008 farm bill, Congress indicated its relative priorities for programs by the tradeoff or
allocation of budgetary resources among programs. If a proposal was deemed too expensive
relative to other programs during legislative development, its parameters were tightened to reduce
costs. Since enactment, some “such sums as necessary” programs have become more expensive
than first estimated. If selected for continuation, would the program continue at its current higher
cost, or be redesigned in the next farm bill to cost less? Thus, which of the two approaches is
better depends on whether one believes Congress would change program parameters, for
example, to reduce a program that has become more expensive than initially expected, or whether
Congress would continue current program provisions and pay a higher cost than in 2008 when
extending a program.

9 Other approaches are possible, such as, for example, assuming that programs continue at the level of their last year of
authorization (an approach sometimes used for programs with continuing baseline). Some fixed-cost programs receive
increasing amounts over time, with the largest amount in FY2012 (examples are apparent in the “comments” column of
Table 2). If the last year of the authorization (FY2012) were used as the cost to continue the programs, the cost to
extend the 33 fixed-cost provisions would be about $500 million higher than the $2.4 billion estimate.
10 Other approaches also are possible (see footnote 9). Moreover, assumptions within these approaches also can lead to
different results. This is particularly true for the length of time that agricultural disaster assistance might be extended,
or pending implementation and regulatory decisions for the biomass crop assistance program (BCAP), as discussed in
notes to Table 2.
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Only 4 of the 37 provisions without baseline have “such sums as necessary” funding. They
account for the difference in the costs between the two approaches (the two cost columns).
Although fewer in number than the fixed-amount group, they account for $6.7 billion or $7.4
billion (depending on the approach), which is about 75% of the total of the provisions without
baseline (Table 2). Thus, policymakers could be faced with decisions about whether to continue a
relatively large number of fixed-cost programs with a small budget impact, or a small number of
programs with a relatively larger estimated budget impact.
Programs Grouped by Duration of Use of Mandatory Funding
In terms of the length of time that mandatory funding is used, 20 provisions in the 2008 farm bill
provided mandatory funding only in the early years of the 2008 farm bill (FY2008-FY2011).
These are estimated to cost $4.8 billion or $6.0 billion if they were extended in the next farm bill
(depending on the approach to estimate costs). Seventeen other provisions provided mandatory
funding for the entire duration of the farm bill. These are estimated to cost $3.2 billion or $5.0
billion if they were extended for five years (the “term” column in Table 2).
This distinction may be important for some observers because programs without full-term
funding may not be prioritized as highly as programs receiving full-term funding. Some of the
provisions were given short-term funding to help begin implementation or to fund a backlog of
unfunded obligations. Other programs received a short-term infusion of mandatory funding and
may be authorized to receive discretionary appropriations. These programs may or may not have
authority to operate for the full term of the 2008 farm bill, regardless of the duration of mandatory
funding.
The provisions listed with full-term funding do not have baseline either because their cost is
relatively small (less than the $50 million scoring threshold in FY2012) or because the budget
scoring at the time the 2008 farm bill was enacted did not assign a cost or give the program a
baseline for the second five years of the scoring window (to make the bill less expensive, as
discussed above in footnote 8).
Some of these programs are pilot programs or are new programs without a large or established
constituency (e.g., local and regional foreign food aid procurement, or the national clean plant
network). Six of them are bioenergy programs, and five affect specialty crops or beginning and
minority farmers. Others are relatively established programs, the wetlands reserve and grasslands
reserve programs in conservation.
In summary, all of these 37 programs without baseline had to be paid for from the agriculture
committee’s budgetary resources when the 2008 farm bill was enacted. But they do not provide
any baseline for a new farm bill for the reasons discussed above (see footnote 8). The $9 billion
or $10 billion (depending on the estimation approach) needed to continue these programs for five
years—should Congress decide to do so—is not in the budget baseline for writing a new farm
bill. Congress would need to find offsets from other sources to continue them, a possibly difficult
task in a tight budget environment. Likewise, if these programs are not continued, they will not be
available as a source of offsets for other provisions.
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Table 2. Programs in the 2008 Farm Bill Without Budget Baseline After FY2012
(provisions in the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 that receive mandatory budget authority,
but are not assumed to continue in the budget baseline beyond FY2012)




Cost to extend ($ million, 5 years)
CBO score
CBO
at 2008
baseline in
Section
Name of Provision
Comments
Terma Typeb enactmentc March 2010c
Farm Commodity Programs
Sec. 1622
Implementation (of farm
$50 million in FY2009 to the Farm Service
Short Fixed
50 50
commodity programs in
Agency to help implement the farm bill.
Title I)
Such expenses usual y are discretionary.
Subtotal, Farm Commodity Programs
50
50
Conservation
Sec. 2202
Wetlands Reserve Program
3.04 million acres to be enrolled through
Full Est. 1,460
2,590
FY2012. The 2008 farm bill added $128-338
million of costs to baseline annually.
Sec. 2403
Grassland Reserve Program 1.22 million additional acres to be enrolled
Full Est.
320
274
during FY2009-2012. The farm bill added
$63-80 million of costs to baseline annually.
Sec. 2606
Voluntary Public Access and $50 million for the period FY2009-2012,
Short Fixed
50
50
Habitat Incentive Program
made available in FY2009.
Sec. 2803
Smal Watershed
$100 million in FY2009, to remain available
Short Fixed
100
100
Rehabilitation Program
until expended. Discretionary
appropriations also are authorized.
Sec. 2807
Desert Terminal Lakes
$175 million in FY2008, to remain available
Short Fixed
175
175
until expended (transfer from USDA to
Dept. of Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation).
Subtotal, Conservation
2,105 3,189
Trade
Sec. 3106
McGovern-Dole
$84 million in FY2009, to remain available
Short Fixed
84
84
International Food for
until expended. It also receives annual
Education and Child
discretionary appropriations (e.g., $209
Nutrition Program
million in FY2010).
Sec. 3206
Local and Regional Food
$5 million in FY2009, $25 million in FY2010
Full Fixed
60
60
Aid Procurement Projects
and FY2011, and $5 million in FY2012.
Results of pilot program to be evaluated.
Subtotal, Trade
144 144
Nutrition
Sec. 4141
Pilot projects to evaluate
$20 million of mandatory funds in FY2009,
Short Fixed
20
20
health and nutrition
to remain available until expended.
promotion in the
Discretionary appropriations also are
supplemental nutrition
authorized.
assistance program
Sec. 4142
Study on Comparable
$1 million of mandatory funds in FY2009, to
Short Fixed
1
1
Access to Supplemental
remain available until expended.
Nutrition Assistance for
Puerto Rico
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Cost to extend ($ million, 5 years)
CBO score
CBO
at 2008
baseline in
Section
Name of Provision
Comments
Terma Typeb enactmentc March 2010c
Sec. 4305
Whole Grain Products (for
$4 million of Section 32 funds to be made
Short Fixed
4
4
school lunches and
available in FY2009 (CBO estimate).
breakfasts)
Sec. 4307
Survey of Foods Purchased
$3 million in FY2009.
Short
Fixed
3
3
by School Food Authorities
Sec. 4402
Assistance For Community
$1 million in each of FY2009-2011.
Short Fixed
3
3
Food Projects: Healthy
Discretionary appropriations are authorized
Urban Food Enterprise
at $2 million for FY2012.
Development Center
Subtotal, Nutrition
31 31
Rural Development
Sec. 6022
Rural Microentrepreneur
$4 million in each of FY2009-2011 and $3
Full Fixed
15
15
Assistance Program
million in FY2012.
Sec. 6029
Funding of Pending Rural
$120 million in FY2008, to remain available
Short Fixed
120
120
Development Loan and
until expended, to reduce a backlog of
Grant Applications
approved applications. Discretionary
appropriations usual y fund these programs.
Sec. 6202
Value-Added Agricultural
$15 million in FY2009, to remain available
Short Fixed
15
15
Market Development
until expended. It also receives annual
Program Grants
discretionary appropriations.
Subtotal, Rural Development
150 150
Research
Sec. 7206
Organic Agriculture
$18 million in FY2009, and $20 million in
Full Fixed
78
78
Research and Extension
each of FY2010-2012.
Initiative
Sec. 7311
Specialty Crop Research
$30 million in FY2008, and $50 million in
Full Fixed
230
230
Initiative
each of FY2009-2012.
Sec. 7410
Beginning Farmer and
$18 million in FY2009, and $19 million in
Full Fixed
75
75
Rancher Development
each of FY2010-2012.
Subtotal, Research
383 383
Forestry
Sec. 8205
Healthy Forests Reserve
$9.75 million each year for FY2009-2012, to
Full Fixed
39
39
Program
remain available until expended.
Subtotal, Forestry
39 39
Energy
Sec. 9002
Biobased Markets Program
$1 million in FY2008, and $2 million each
Full Fixed
9
9
year for FY2009-2012.
Sec. 9003
Biorefinery Assistance
$75 million in FY2009, and $245 million in
Short Fixed
320
320
FY2010. Discretionary appropriations also
are authorized.
Sec. 9004
Repowering Assistance
$35 million in FY2009, to remain available
Short Fixed
35
35
until expended. Discretionary
appropriations also are authorized.
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Cost to extend ($ million, 5 years)
CBO score
CBO
at 2008
baseline in
Section
Name of Provision
Comments
Terma Typeb enactmentc March 2010c
Sec. 9005
Bioenergy Program for
$55 million in each of FY2009-FY2010, $85
Full Fixed
300
300
Advanced Biofuels
million in FY2011, and $105 million in
FY2012, to remain available until expended.
Sec. 9006
Biodiesel Fuel Education
$1 million in each of FY2008-2012. Full
Fixed
5 5
Program
Sec. 9007
Rural Energy For America
$55 million in FY2009, $60 million in
Full Fixed
255
255
Program (REAP)
FY2010, and $70 million in each of FY2011-
2012, to remain available until expended.
Sec. 9008
Biomass Research and
$20 million in FY2009, $28 million FY2010,
Full Fixed
118
118
Development
$30 million in FY2011, and $40 million in
FY2012, to remain avail. until expended.
Sec. 9011
Biomass Crop Assistance
Indefinite appropriation of mandatory funds
Full Est.
70
836d
Program
(such sums as necessary) for FY2008-2012.
Outlays in March 2010 CBO baseline of
$283 million in FY2010, $456 million in
FY2011, $409 million in FY2012, $244
million in FY2013, falling to zero by FY2017.
Subtotal, Energy
1,112 1,878
Horticulture and Organic Agriculture
Sec. 10106 Farmers’ Market Promotion $3 million in FY2008, $5 million in each of
Full Fixed
33
33
Program
FY2009-FY2010, and $10 million in each of
FY2011-FY2012.
Sec. 10202 National Clean Plant
$5 million in each of FY2009-2012, to
Full Fixed
20
20
Network
remain available until expended.
Sec. 10301 National Organic
$22 million in FY2008, to remain available
Short Fixed
22
22
Certification Cost-Share
until expended.
Sec. 10302 Organic Production and
$5 million in FY2008, to remain avail. until
Short Fixed
5
5
Market Data Initiatives
expended. Discretionary also is authorized.
Sec. 10404 Market Loss Assistance for
$15 million in FY2008 for market loss
Short Fixed
15
15
Asparagus Producers
payments for the 2004-2007 crop years.
Subtotal, Horticulture and Organic Agriculture
95
95
Livestock
Sec. 11009 National Sheep Industry
$1 million in FY2008, to remain available
Short Fixed
1
1
Improvement Center
until expended.
Subtotal, Livestock
1 1
Agricultural Disaster Assistance
Sec. 12033 Supplemental agricultural
Authorized for FY2008-FY2011. CBO
Short Est.
4,846
3,680e
and Sec.
disaster assistance, including estimated in 2008 that the cost would be
15101
establishing the Agricultural
$4.846 billion for the program over 4 years,
Disaster Relief Trust Fund
ending in FY2011 (see also Table 3). The
March 2010 baseline projects $3.680 billion
of outlays for the life of the provision.
Subtotal, Agricultural Disaster Assistance
4,846
3,680
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Cost to extend ($ million, 5 years)
CBO score
CBO
at 2008
baseline in
Section
Name of Provision
Comments
Terma Typeb enactmentc March 2010c
Miscellaneous
Sec. 14004 Outreach and Technical
$15 million in FY2009, and $20 million each
Full Fixed
75
75
Assistance for Social y
year for FY2010-2012.
Disadvantaged Farmers or
Ranchers
Sec. 14012 Determination on Merits of
$100 million in FY2008, to remain available
Short Fixed
100
100
Pigford Claims
until expended. Discretionary
appropriations; $1.15 billion currently is
being sought to fund a legal agreement that
was reached with litigants in February 2010.
Subtotal, Miscellaneous
175 175
Total: 37 provisions in 2008 farm bill without baseline beyond FY2012


9,131
9,815
Subtotals by term (or duration) of mandatory funding




20 provisions with short-term use of mandatory funds in the 2008 farm bill
Short
5,969
4,803
17 provisions with full-term use of mandatory funds in the 2008 farm bill
Full

3,162
5,012
Subtotals by type of certainty about costs




33 provisions where cost is fixed or known in the farm bill
Fixed 2,435 2,435
4 provisions where cost is estimated based on implementation

Est.
6,696
7,380
Source: Compiled by CRS using P.L. 110-246, the CBO score of the 2008 farm bill (at enactment against the
March 2008 baseline, May 12, 2008, unpublished spreadsheet), and the March 2010 CBO baseline (unpublished).
a. Provisions were identified as having either short-term or full-term mandatory funding. Provisions selected as
short-term have mandatory budget authority at some time in the early years of the 2008 farm bill, but no
new mandatory budget authority in the last year (FY2012). Provisions selected as full-term have mandatory
budget authority at least during the last year of the farm bill, but no baseline beyond FY2012. Provisions
with ful -term funding may not have an extended baseline either because (1) the funding during the last year
of a farm bill is below a minimum $50 million scoring threshold that is needed to continue a baseline, or (2)
the budget committees did not give the program a baseline in the years beyond the farm bill in order to
reduce the program’s 10-year cost at the time the farm bill was written.
b. The cost of provisions is identified as either fixed or estimated. For fixed-cost programs, the cost is specified
by statute and equals the five-year funding provided in 2008 farm bill. For programs with estimated costs, the
cost to extend the provision depends on the assumption in the heading of each cost column.
c. If a fixed amount was specified in the 2008 farm bill, then that amount is used in both cost columns,
regardless of the source of data for the four programs with estimated costs.
d. This cost estimate for BCAP is based on the March 2010 CBO baseline, but is multiplied by 60% on the
assumption that its costs in the future will decrease under USDA’s final implementation rules, which are
expected to reduce outlays compared to USDA’s initial implementation.
e. This cost estimate for agricultural disaster assistance is the March 2010 CBO projection of outlays for the
current four-year program. A future program to cover five crop years for a full farm bill, or six years to
cover the last year of the current farm bill, would cost relatively more.
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Previewing the Next Farm Bill: Unfunded and Early-Expiring Provisions

Early-Expiring Provisions
Separate from the funding issues discussed above, six provisions in the 2008 farm bill expire
early—that is, before September 30, 2012, or before the 2012 crop year when relevant (Table 3).
Two are in the jurisdiction of the agriculture committees, and four are tax provisions in the
jurisdiction of the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee.
• One of the more notable provisions is the supplemental agricultural disaster
assistance program that the farm bill created. It expires one year before the farm
bill ends (in FY2011), and has budget baseline implications that were discussed
earlier. It was authorized in an effort to end the ad-hoc nature of emergency crop
disaster assistance. It compensates producers for a portion of losses that are not
eligible under crop insurance.11
• Another provision temporarily suspends “term limits” on the maximum number
of years that farmers can qualify for guaranteed operating loans from the U.S.
Department of Agriculture. Term limits restrict the long-term eligibility for
government farm loans, but Congress has suspended application of the
guaranteed operating loan term limit to prevent some farmers from being denied
credit. The current suspension expires on December 31, 2010. A bill in the
Senate, S. 3221, would extend the suspension to December 31, 2012.12
• Four others are tax-related provisions (tax provisions typically are not part of a
farm bill and are not under the jurisdiction of the agriculture committees).
Among them are the following:
• A conservation tax deduction (contributions of capital gain real property for
conservation purposes) was extended by the 2008 farm bill until December
31, 2009. It would have been further extended until December 31, 2010, by
H.R. 4213, a tax extenders bill, but the bill was repurposed for an extension
of unemployment compensation.13
• A long-standing tariff on imported ethanol that protects domestic ethanol
production was extended by the 2008 farm bill, but expires January 1,
2011.14
Table 3 also identifies one related provision in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of
2009 (ARRA, P.L. 111-5) that directly affects farm bill conservation provisions—the ability of
mandatory funds to be used for technical assistance as farmers establish their conservation
practices. Permanent law states that CCC funds cannot be used for technical assistance, but the
ARRA provision temporarily allows CCC funds to be available for that purpose, until September
30, 2010. A similar fix outside the farm bill applied to the 2002 farm bill.

11 For more background on supplemental disaster assistance, see CRS Report R40452, A Whole-Farm Crop Disaster
Program: Supplemental Revenue Assistance Payments (SURE)
, by Dennis A. Shields.
12 For more background on term limits for USDA farm loans, see CRS Report RS21977, Agricultural Credit:
Institutions and Issues
, by Jim Monke.
13 For more background on the conservation tax deduction, see CRS Report R41255, FY2010 Supplemental
Appropriations for Agriculture
, by Jim Monke.
14 For more background on the tariff on imported ethanol, see CRS Report R41282, Agriculture-Based Biofuels:
Overview and Emerging Issues
, by Randy Schnepf.
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Previewing the Next Farm Bill: Unfunded and Early-Expiring Provisions

Table 3. Early-Expiring Provisions in the 2008 Farm Bill
(provisions in the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 that expire before September 30, 2012, or
before the 2012 crop year for commodity programs)
Section
Name of Provision
Expiration date
Comments
Agricultural Credit
Sec. 5103
Suspension of Limitation on Period for Which
December 31, 2010
Term limits in permanent law prevent
Borrowers Are Eligible for Guaranteed
farmers from getting USDA direct and
Assistance
guaranteed operating loans for more than
15 years. This provision temporarily
prevents application of the limit on
guaranteed loans. S. 3221 would extend
the suspension to Dec. 31, 2012.
Agricultural Disaster Assistance
Sec. 12033
Supplemental Agricultural Disaster Assistance,
September 30, 2011
Establishes five standing agricultural
(and Sec.
including (1) Supplemental Revenue Assistance
disaster assistance programs. In 2008,
15101)
Payments (SURE); (2) Livestock Indemnity
CBO estimated mandatory costs of $4.8
Payments; (3) Livestock Forage Disaster
billion over 4 years, ending in FY2011 (see
Program; (4) Emergency Assistance for Livestock,
also Table 2).
Honeybees, and Farm-Raised Catfish; and (5)
Tree Assistance Program
Sec. 15101 repeats provisions for the 5
programs in Sec. 12033, and establishes
the Agricultural Disaster Relief Trust Fund
as the revenue for the program from
duties collected under the Harmonized
Tariff Schedule.
Tax Provisions
Sec. 15302
Two-Year Extension of Special Rule Encouraging
December 31, 2009
An early version of H.R. 4213 would have
Contributions of Capital Gain Real Property for
extended the provision to December 31,
Conservation Purposes
2010.
Sec. 15331
Modification of Alcohol Credit
December 31, 2010
Provides a reduced tax credit for ethanol
blenders.
Sec. 15333
Ethanol Tariff Extension
January 1, 2011
Extends the tariff on imported ethanol.
Sec. 15345
Temporary Tax Relief For Kiowa County,
December 31, 2009
Temporary tax relief for tornado damage
Kansas, and Surrounding Area
that occurred in May 2007.
Provisions in Related Acts
Sec. 103,
Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) funds
September 30, 2010
Permanent law states that CCC funds
Division A,
shal be available for administrative expenses and
cannot be used for technical assistance;
of P.L. 111-
technical assistance in the 2008 farm bill
this primarily affects conservation
5 (ARRA)
(primarily for conservation programs).
programs. This provision in the American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
temporarily allows CCC funds to be
available for that purpose. CBO estimated
an $8 million cost for this provision over
FY2009-FY2010. A similar fix outside the
farm bill applied to the 2002 farm bill.
Source: Compiled by CRS using P.L. 110-246 and P.L. 111-5.
Note: Provisions were selected if the expiration date was before September 30, 2012, or, for programs funded
on a crop-year basis, if the program expires before the 2012 crop year.

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Previewing the Next Farm Bill: Unfunded and Early-Expiring Provisions

Author Contact Information

Jim Monke

Specialist in Agricultural Policy
jmonke@crs.loc.gov, 7-9664


Acknowledgments
Ralph Chite, Tadlock Cowan, Melissa Ho, Ross Gorte, Renée Johnson, Joe Richardson, Randy Schnepf,
Dennis Shields, and Megan Stubbs contributed to this report.

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