The Fund for Rural America was a fund established by the

1996 farm bill The Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (P.L. 104-127), known informally as the Freedom to Farm Act, the FAIR Act, or the 1996 U.S. Farm Bill, was the omnibus 1996 farm bill that, among other provisions, revises and simplifies d ...

(P.L. 104–127, Sec. 793) to augment existing resources for agricultural research and rural development through an annual transfer of funds from the U.S. Treasury to USDA. The Fund was notable for being the first time that mandatory money (in the form of a mandatory annual transfer to USDA from the U.S. Treasury) was provided for research programs, which traditionally receive discretionary funds as provided annually by Congressional appropriators. One-third of the fund was designated for competitive agricultural research grants, one-third for rural development projects, and one-third for either research or rural development, at the Secretary's discretion. The 1996 farm bill (P.L. 104–127) authorized the U.S. Treasury to transfer $100 million annually to the Fund for 3 years, but a recision reduced that to $80 million. The

Agricultural Research, Extension, and Education Reform Act of 1998 The Agricultural Research, Extension, and Education Reform Act of 1998 (P.L. 105-185) was separate legislation that revised and reauthorized federally supported agricultural research, education, and extension programs from June 1998 through May 200 ...

(P.L.105-185) extended the authority for the program through FY2003 with an annual transfer to USDA of $60 million. However, the omnibus appropriations law for FY1999 (P.L. 105–277, October 21, 1998) prohibited the expenditure of the $60 million for Fund grants and projects. The fund was repealed in 2002 by the

2002 farm bill The Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002, also known as the 2002 Farm Bill, includes ten titles, addressing a great variety of issues related to agriculture, ecology, energy, trade, and nutrition. This act has been superseded by the 2007 ...

(P.L. 107–172, Sec. 6043).

References

{{CRS, article = Report for Congress: Agriculture: A Glossary of Terms, Programs, and Laws, 2005 Edition, url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110810044532/http://ncseonline.org/nle/crsreports/05jun/97-905.pdf, author= Jasper Womach United States Department of Agriculture