Farm Bill Spending

Note: Get ERS analysis of the 2018 Farm Act. 

The Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (2018 Farm Act) consists of 12 titles governing a wide range of policy areas related to food and agriculture. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projected the total cost of the 2018 Farm Act would be $428 billion over the 5-year period 2019–23¹. Nutrition programs accounted for about three-fourths of this total, with projected outlays for crop insurance, conservation, and commodities representing nearly all the rest.

Download chart data in Excel format.

¹ Most provisions of the 2018 Farm Bill expired at the end of fiscal year 2023 but were then extended through the end of fiscal year 2024 as part of the Further Continuing Appropriations and Other Extensions Act, 2024 (Public Law 118-22).

The 2018 Farm Act authorizes two kinds of program funding:

Mandatory funding. Programs authorized with mandatory funding are provided funds as needed (or to a statutory level) through the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) and are not subject to annual appropriations decisions by Congress. Spending is not constrained by annual limits. Government costs under these programs may vary from year to year, depending on program-participation levels and economic conditions. Congress can alter mandatory-funding levels at any time through new legislation, but there is no automatic reconsideration during the span of the Farm Act. Examples of Farm Act programs provided with mandatory funding include the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) as well as most commodity and conservation programs.

Discretionary funding. Programs authorized with discretionary funding may be funded up to the level provided by legislation, but Congress may change the funding level each year for these programs. Once program expenditures reach the level appropriated for that year, no additional funds can be spent unless Congress provides new appropriations. Many research and rural-development programs are funded in this way.

CBO projections include only programs authorized with mandatory funding in the Farm Act.

Four policy areas dominate projected spending under the 2018 Farm Act:

Nutrition. Mandatory nutrition-program spending was projected to account for more than 75 percent of 2018 Farm Act outlays. Details on food and nutrition-assistance-program spending can be found at ERS Ag and Food Statistics: Charting the Essentials, Food Security and Nutrition Assistance.

Crop insurance. Under the 2018 Farm Act, crop-insurance-program expenditures were projected to comprise almost 9 percent of total outlays over 2019-23. These expenditures include support to crop-insurance companies for delivery and underwriting, as well as subsidies for farmer premiums. 

As prices for several major commodities fell from their peaks in 2012-13, premiums and subsidy expenditures correspondingly dropped, since premium calculations depend in part on expected prices and subsidies are a set percentage of the premium. With prices rising again for most of the 2021 to 2023 time frame, premiums and subsidies have followed. Following the introduction of revenue-based insurance policies in the 1990s, their use increased to cover a significant share of enrolled acres. Additionally, index plans have gained popularity, in terms of acreage covered, in recent years and have partly contributed to rising premiums and subsidies.

Download chart data in Excel format.

Download chart data in Excel format.

Conservation. Mandatory conservation-program expenditures were projected to account for about 7 percent of outlays under the 2018 Farm Act from 2019-23. Details on conservation-program spending are provided on the ERS website topic page Conservation Programs.

Commodity Programs. Commodity-program payments were projected to make up just over 7 percent of outlays under the 2018 Farm Act from 2019-23. As in the previous Farm Act, commodity payments can respond to changes in yields and market prices, a feature which adds uncertainty to total outlays. For this reason, producers may receive higher or lower payments than the levels initially projected by CBO.

Download chart data in Excel format.