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 direct payment programs for crops and eliminates milk price supports through direct government purchases. The law removed the link between income support payments and farm prices. It authorized 7-year production flexibility contract payments that provided participating producers with fixed government payments independent of current farm prices and production. The law specified the total amount of money to be made available through contract payments under production flexibility contracts for each fiscal year from 1996 through 2002. Payment levels were allocated among contract commodities according to specified percentages, generally derived from each commodity’s share of projected deficiency payments for fiscal 1996-2002. The law increased planting flexibility by allowing participants to plant 100% of their total contract acreage to any crop, except with limitations on fruits and vegetables. The authority for acreage reduction programs was eliminated, while nonrecourse loans (with marketing loan repayment provisions) were continued in a modified form. Minimum loan rates generally were calculated each year at 85% of recent past market prices. Authority for the Farmer-Owned Reserve Program was suspended through the 2002 crop year. Authority for the honey program was eliminated. Dairy price support was to be phased down for milk over 4 years and then eliminated, but subsequent legislation continued this program. Had dairy support ended, processors could have obtained recourse loans on dairy products. The peanut program was continued but revised to reduce the likelihood of the federal government incurring loan program costs due to loan forfeitures. The minimum national poundage quota was eliminated. The sugar program also was continued but modified. Trade and food aid programs were reoriented toward greater market development, with increased emphasis on high-value and value-added products. Other provisions established a Commission to conduct a comprehensive review of changes to production agriculture under the 1996 Act, required USDA to conduct research on futures and options contracts through pilot programs, capped expenditures for the Export Enhancement Program, and changed the name of the Market Promotion Program to the

Market Access Program The Market Access Program (MAP; formerly the Market Promotion Program) is administered by the Foreign Agricultural Service and uses funds from the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC). It helps producers, exporters, private companies, and other trad ...

. The 1996 Act also reauthorized the

Food Stamp Program In the United States, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as the Food Stamp Program, is a Federal government of the United States, federal government program that provides food-purchasing assistance for Poverty ...

for 2 years and commodity donation programs for 7 years, and established a Fund for Rural America to augment existing resources for agricultural research and rural development. Other research authorities were revised and extended, some only for 2 years rather than 7 years. The 1996 Act authorized new enrollments in the

Conservation Reserve Program The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) is a cost-share and rental payment program of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Under the program, the government pays farmers to take certain agriculturally used croplands out of produc ...

to maintain total acreage at up to . Other conservation programs were also revised and extended. The Act also contained numerous provisions in the areas of farm credit, rural development, and generic commodity promotion through check-off programs, among others. The 2002 farm bill (P.L. 107-171) superseded many of the 1996 farm bill provisions before they expired.

Safe Meat and Poultry Inspection Panel

The Safe Meat and Poultry Inspection Panel is an advisory panel to review and evaluate meat inspection policies and proposed changes that the 1996 farm bill (P.L. 104–127, Sec. 918) permanently authorized by amendment to the federal meat and poultry inspection statutes. Provisions in annual USDA appropriations laws since 1996 have prohibited the department from actually establishing the advisory panel.

References

* * * *(1996
42
Meat & Poultry *"Food Safety Panel in Farm Bill". The Federal Veterinarian
May 1996
p 6. *"Subcommittee Vote Sets Up Tussle Over Farm Bill (1996
54
Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report 1527. See also p 1252. *(1996
1
Agricultural and Consumer Economic Issues (No 1)

External links

Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996
as amended
PDFdetails
in the GPObr>Statute Compilations collection

Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996
as enacted
details
in the US Statutes at Large * on Congress.gov * on Congress.gov {{Authority control Acts of the 104th United States Congress United States federal agriculture legislation