1、 March 12, 2014 The 2014 Farm Bill (Agricultural Act of 2014, P.L. 113-79) What Is the Farm Bill? The farm bill is an omnibus, multi-year piece of authorizing legislation that governs an array of agricultural and food programs. Although agricultural policies sometimes are created and changed by free
2、standing legislation or as part of other major laws, the farm bill provides a predictable opportunity for policymakers to comprehensively and periodically address agricultural and food issues. The farm bill is typically renewed about every five years. Seventeen farm bills have been enacted since the
3、 1930s (2014, 2008, 2002, 1996, 1990, 1985, 1981, 1977, 1973, 1970, 1965, 1956, 1954, 1949, 1948, 1938, and 1933). Farm bills traditionally have focused on farm commodity program support for a handful of staple commoditiescorn, soybeans, wheat, cotton, rice, dairy, and sugar. Yet farm bills have bec
4、ome increasingly expansive in nature since 1973, with the inclusion of a nutrition title. Other prominent additions have been conservation, horticulture, and bioenergy programs. The omnibus nature of the farm bill can create broad coalitions of support among sometimes conflicting interests for polic
