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Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA)
The first farm bill was signed back in the year 1933 thanks to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The farm bill was introduced with the purpose of offering farmers subsidies to limit their production of specific crops. Interestingly enough, the bill was actually dismissed by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1936. But only two short years later a new farm bill had passed that didn't vary much from the original. -
Food Security Act
On December 23rd, 1985, President Ronald Reagan passed the
Food Security Act. This bill had many implications, varying from things such as preserving wetlands, all the way to establishing a dairy herd buyout program. The Food Security Act was solely responsible for lowering commodity prices, as well as income supports. The Food Security Act was also responsible for giving us multiple other long term programs. Sodbuster, Swampbuster, and the Conservation Reserve Program to name a few. -
Provisions and Economic Implications
On May 13th, 2002, President Bush signed the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act. A goal of the Freedom to Farm Act was to try to get farmers away from price supports and commodities. This bill was a grand total of $248.6 million, and increased tax payer spending by approximately 80% compared to the 1996 farm bill. This bill addressed various things such as ecology, energy, and nutrition. The bill was replaced by the 2007 farm bill, as of today it provides $16.5b to agricultural subsidies -
Agricultural Improvement Act
President Trump signed the Agricultural Improvement Act on December 20th, 2018. A large bright spot of this bill was the decision to increase funding for the Farm and Ranch Assistance Network. This program was authorized in the 2014 farm bill, but never received enough funding to take off. Trump changed this as he increased the budget to a whopping $10m per year. Though there weren't many big changes to be seen as far as the content, what drastically changed was where the money is spent.