Phillip Brasher, reporter for the Des Moines Register, reportsthat the failure of the congressional super committee to come up with a plan to reduce the federal budget deficit throws in doubt the future of federal crop subsidies after next year.
Well, it throws in doubt the whole fast track for the 2012 Farm Bill.
"Existing farm programs expire in 2012, and farm groups had hoped to insert a new farm bill in a deficit-reduction plan so that crop subsidies would be protected from attack on the House or Senate floor. By law, the House and Senate couldn’t change anything that would have been in the supercommittee’s plan, including the farm bill," Brasher explained.
So what now?
With the supercommittee deadlocked, Congress will have to start over on the farm bill next year.
In the spirit of starting over, here are some explainers about the 2012 Farm Bill that might prove helpful. Just be aware of where the information comes from.
Harvest Public Media’s coverage is all here.