Downsizing Blog
New Zealand’s Free Market Farming
With Congress scheduled to reauthorize farm subsidies this fall, lawmakers should consider reform lessons from New Zealand. Facing high budget deficits in the 1980s, New Zealand cut government spending, including eliminating nearly all farm subsidies. That was an impressive reform because the country is highly dependent on agriculture. Since then, New Zealand has remained a model of market‐based farming.
With Congress scheduled to reauthorize farm subsidies this fall, lawmakers should consider reform lessons from New Zealand. Facing high budget deficits in the 1980s, New Zealand cut government spending, including eliminating nearly all farm subsidies. That was an impressive reform because the country is highly dependent on agriculture. Since then, New Zealand has remained a model of market‐based farming.
Department of Agriculture Bureaucracy
Congress is scheduled to consider a major farm bill this year, which will reauthorize many U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs, including farm subsidies and food stamps. The legislation could cost $150 billion a year and so presents an opportunity to find budget savings and reduce the flood of red ink in Washington.
Cutting Farm Subsidies
The bipartisan debt‐ceiling deal passed in June reflected a new congressional focus on spending restraint. Congress should extend the restraint when it considers a major farm bill this fall. Cutting farm subsidies is a good way to tackle wasteful spending and reduce budget deficits.
Which farm programs should Congress cut?
Farm Bill 2023: Crop Insurance Subsidies
Farm subsidy programs run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture displaces private methods of managing risk and gives subsidies to farm businesses that do not need them.
Farm Bill Palooza
Congress’s Farm Bill bundles a bunch of loser provisions together, making it a legislative winner.
Stealing from SNAP
Federal hand‐out programs are looted by criminal gangs in an organized fashion.
Food Stamps and Obesity
Congress is scheduled to reauthorize the Farm Bill this year, the largest part of which is the $127 billion Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
Nutrition: A Government Fail?
Americans are getting used to failures by government experts.
SNAP Work Requirements
One GOP reform would strengthen work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also called food stamps.
SNAP: A Nutrition Failure
Spending on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) has doubled since 2019 to $127 billion in 2023.