2008 Farm Bill: Leaving Rural Development Behind
On June 18, 2008, Congress completed action on the 2008 Farm Bill, the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (HR 6124, Public Law 110-246). The 2008 Farm Bill continues considerable funding for commodity subsidy programs, $35 billion over the life of the Farm Bill. An additional $10.4 billion was authorized for nutrition programs and $25 billion for conservation programs.
In comparison, the Farm Bill allocates only $150 million in mandatory spending for three programs over the life of the Farm Bill—a 233:1 ratio of commodity subsidy spending to rural development spending.
The gap between commodity subsidy spending and rural development spending is even greater when one considers only the two business development and entrepreneurial programs that received mandatory spending— a 1,167:1 ratio of commodity subsidy spending to rural development spending that promotes entrepreneurship. The 2008 Farm Bill also represents a step backward for rural development compared to the 2002 Farm Bill when $1.03 billion in mandatory spending was allocated for rural development programs.
You can download a pdf of the full Rural Brief at this link.
