2014 Farm Bill Resources Page

On February 4, the Senate passed a compromise House-Senate Conference Committee farm bill on a 68-32 roll call vote. Forty-six Democrats, 20 Republicans and two independents voted for the final bill. The House had previously (January 29) passed the bill, on a 251-166 roll call vote. The measure was then sent on to the President and signed into law on February 7.

The farm-nutrition legislation will cost $956 billion to implement over 10 years, based on a January 28, Congressional Budget Office report. According to the Conference Committee's analysis, the bill cuts $2.3 billion a year overall from current spending levels, including $400 million in annual food stamp (or "SNAP" benefit) cuts, and an elimination of direct payments to farmers: direct subsidy payments made regardless of whether they had a successful or bad crop year.

From a conservation perspective, the legislation restores a previous farm bill provision that links receipt of crop insurance premium subsidies by farmers to requirements for conserving highly erodible land and wetlands. The bill also includes a regional "sodsaver" provision that will affect the Prairie Pothole Region states of Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota. That provision would eliminate crop insurance premium subsidies for farmers who convert native grasslands into crop production.  That part of the bill is not national in scope; a requirement that many conservation groups were backing.

Below are links to resources you may find useful regarding the 2014 farm bill.

General Resources

• Overview of Senate and House Agriculture Committees, their membership, and links to Mississippi River Basin member home pages
• Tables listing House members and Senators, along with their Washington, DC contact information and agriculture legislative aide contact information (PDF files)

House-Senate Conference Committee

• H.R.2642 - Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act of 2013 (Conference committee consensus farm bill)
• Congressional Budget Office final scoring of the farm bill on H.R. 2642: http://ow.ly/t44tr

U.S. Senate

• Senate farm bill passed by the full Senate: text, summary and legislative status (S. 954) Library of Congress legislation page
• Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee Home Page
• Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee Hearings Page
• Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee Farm Bill Page
• CBO Analysis of the Senate Agriculture Committee-passed "S. 954, Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act of 2013"

U.S. House

• House farm bill passed by the full House: text, summary and legislative status (H.R. 2642) Library of Congress legislation page
• House stand-alone nutrition bill: H.R. 3102 "To amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008, and for other purposes"
• House Agriculture Committee Home Page
• House Agriculture Committee Hearings Page