Expired Farm Bill Could Soon Hit Consumers
Posted at 11 a.m. on Dec. 7, 2012
The House and Senate have failed to negotiate a compromise between their conflicting proposals to replace the expired farm bill, forcing the government to freeze various conservation and export programs. But if Congress cannot produce a compromise soon, The Economist notes the broader impact on American consumers.
“This year’s harvest is long in, so the effects so far have been muted. But if there is no farm bill by the start of the next agricultural year, the government’s price-support scheme will automatically revert to what it was in 1949… Applying the old formulas today would require the federal government to buy up enough milk to establish a minimum wholesale price more than double its current level, and, later on, enough wheat to raise its price by 67%.”
