US Farm Bill Policies: Impacts on Rural Economic Development

The US Farm Bill is organized as a collection of titles that cover policies on a common topic, including rural development, and has been renewed approximately every five years since 1933. The rural development portion of the bill provides for the US Department of Agriculture’s rural development programs: Rural Utilities, Rural Housing and Rural Business-Cooperative services. Most programs administered by USDA’s Rural Development mission area are funded through annual, discretionary appropriations, and the Farm Bill and other acts provide the authority for these appropriations. Rural development generally takes place at the local, usually county, level, where leaders access the programs offered through the Farm Bill and other federal, state, and private sources. The Farm Bill also provides for agricultural support: agricultural support issues garner most of the political attention during development of the bill as the current challenges facing agricultural competitiveness and farm returns are considered in detail. It is common to equate rural policy with agricultural policy, but most rural communities and rural households are not dependent on or engaged with agricultural production. Other national policies — such as health, education, and tax policies — and market and non-market forces affect rural development outcomes, in addition to Farm Bill policies.