Mandatory Spending

Function 350 - Agriculture

Eliminate Title I Agriculture Programs

CBO periodically issues a compendium of policy options (called Options for Reducing the Deficit) covering a broad range of issues, as well as separate reports that include options for changing federal tax and spending policies in particular areas. This option appears in one of those publications. The options are derived from many sources and reflect a range of possibilities. For each option, CBO presents an estimate of its effects on the budget but makes no recommendations. Inclusion or exclusion of any particular option does not imply an endorsement or rejection by CBO.

Billions of Dollars 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2021–
2025
2021–
2030
Change in Outlays 0 0 0 * -0.7 -8.3 -7.8 -7.7 -7.4 -7.3 -0.7 -39.2
 

This option would take effect in October 2023.
* = between -$50 million and zero.

Lawmakers enact, and often modify, a variety of programs that support commodity prices, farm income, and agricultural producers’ liquidity. The Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, known as the 2018 farm bill, was the most recent comprehensive legislation addressing farm income and price support programs. Title I of that bill authorized specialized programs for dairy and sugar and programs for producers of other major commodities.

Under this option, Title I programs would not be renewed for the 2024 crop year, when authorizations under the 2018 farm bill expire. (A crop year begins in the month that the crop is harvested and ends 12 months later.) In addition, the permanent agriculture legislation enacted in 1938 and 1949 that provides income and price support (which is normally suspended for the duration of each farm bill) would be suspended or repealed.