A curiosity of the Farm Bill is that it must be formally reauthorized every four or five years. This is not the case with most laws, which have open-ended authorization; Congress simply appropriates funds to meet authorized needs. When was the last time Congress formally revisited the Fair Housing Act or the Clean Air Act? (Answer: 1988 and 1990, respectively.) By contrast, new versions of the Farm Bill were passed in 2018, 2014, 2008, 2002, and so on going back to 1933. Why is this the case?
The reason is that the legislators who crafted the Farm Bill’s “permanent law”—as initially codified in the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938—wanted Congress to review commodity policies frequently enough to adapt them to changes in growing and market conditions, such as droughts and shifting consumer demand. To make sure of it, they equipped the bill with a time bomb of sorts. Unless Congress formally reauthorizes the bill by a date specified in its current version, its rules on commodity production revert to language from the time of the New Deal. Some experts say this would disrupt whole agricultural sectors and even the availability of certain basic foods. The scariest story concerns dairy: If we reverted to the old supply management rules, the federal government would have to buy and store even more cheese and butter than it already does to keep supplies and prices stable. In the worst-case scenario, milk prices could double in months.
Like so much about the American regulatory state, agriculture’s “permanent law” has its origins in the Depression. In the mid-1930s a quarter of Americans worked the farm, often in conditions of near and actual poverty. Crop surpluses deflated commodity prices and drove many farmers into bankruptcy. As part of the New Deal response, Congress passed the first Agricultural Adjustment Act in 1933. The law instituted a range of mechanisms designed to manage production: quotas, acreage restrictions, price guarantees, and so forth. If all went to plan, surpluses would decrease, commodity prices would stay stable, and more efficient farmers would earn a profit. Seeking uses for the surpluses that still resulted, the federal government also shipped bulk commodities to states for distribution to the needy and set up the first food stamp program that enabled poor people to “purchase” surplus foods in local retail stores.