1、1 Title I (the Agricultural Market Transition Act) of the Federal Agricultural Improvement andReform Act of 1996 specifically contains the commodity provisions for the seven crop years 1996through 2002. See CRS Report RS20271, Support Programs for Major Crops: Description andExperience.Congressional
2、 Research Service ? The Library of CongressCRS Report for CongressReceived through the CRS Web98-744 ENRUpdated December 13, 2000Agricultural Marketing Assistance Loansand Loan Deficiency PaymentsJasper WomachSpecialist in Agricultural PolicyResources, Science, and Industry DivisionSummaryMarketing
3、assistance loans for the major crops were designed to facilitate orderlymarketing by providing short-term financing so that farmers could pay their bills rightafter harvest and spread their sales over the entire marketing year. However, thepersistence of very low commodity prices transformed the loa
4、n program into a majorvehicle of farm income support. Marketing loan program benefits (primarily loandeficiency payments, LDPs) to farmers amounted to about $5.9 billion in 1999, and willexceed $6.5 billion in 2000. Such levels of use and high costs have revealed severaladministrative problems and g
