Provisions in the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (2008 farm bill; P.L. 112-240 ; January 2, 2013) extended all 2008 farm bill provisions that were in effect on September 30, 2012, for one additional year—that is, for FY2013 and the 2013 crop year. After the passage of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (2014 farm bill; P.L. 113-79 ) on February 7, 2014, expiration will not be an issue again until 2018. Funding Sources Affect Consequences of Expiration

Farm bills include a wide range of authorities, some of which are authorized and funded in the farm bill (mandatory spending), while others are only authorized in the farm bill for their scope but wait for appropriations acts to determine their funding (discretionary spending). The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)—a mandatory program—also requires an appropriation. Mandatory Funding

Most farm bill programs with mandatory funding have an expiration date either on their program authority or their funding authority. Mandatory spending is used primarily for the farm commodity programs, crop insurance, nutrition assistance programs, and some conservation and trade programs. However, another subset of mandatory programs did not have baseline beyond FY2012. Brief History of Farm Bill Formulation, Enactment, and Extension

Farm bills, like other legislation, have become more complicated and politically sensitive. They are taking longer to enact than in previous decades. The 1996 farm bill did not need to be extended because the 2002 farm bill was enacted earlier than necessary. On January 1, 2013, the entire 2008 farm bill, as it existed on September 30, 2012, was extended for the 2013 fiscal year and the 2013 crop year ( P.L. Some programs ceased new operations, while others were able to continue under appropriations. From January 1, 2014, until enactment of the 2014 farm bill on February 7, 2014, the dairy program technically had reverted to the outdated 1949-era permanent law, though USDA did not implement it since conference negotiations were proceeding. In their place, the new farm commodity program would have become the permanent law since it would have applied to "the 2014 crop year and each succeeding crop year." The Conservation Reserve Program's (CRP's) funding and program authority expired at the end of FY2012 and was extended to the end of FY2013 in the one-year farm bill extension. Thus, even without a reauthorization of the 2008 farm bill, the five programs continued to operate. Programs that can be continued solely by appropriations action, or
3. Programs Continued via Appropriations Action56

Appropriations can allow a program to continue even if the underlying authorization has not been extended. However, all program operations continued under CSFP appropriations. The 2008 farm bill was vetoed and overridden twice. Yet, the 1970 and 1973 farm bills, for example, generally were written into the 1938 and/or 1949 farm bills, as amended, with provisions that were applicable only for the new period of the farm bill.
Farm bills, like many other pieces of legislation, have become more complicated and politically sensitive. They are taking longer to enact than in previous decades. Legislative delays have caused the past two farm bills (the 2002 and 2008 farm bills) to expire for short periods, and to be extended for months or a year while a new farm bill was developed.
The 2008 farm bill (the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008, P.L. 110-246) expired twice; the first time was from October 1, 2012 through January 1, 2013, and the second time was from October 1, 2013, through February 6, 2014. Some programs ceased new operations, while others were able to continue. However, neither expiration lasted long enough for the farm commodity programs to revert to an outdated "permanent law" that would have raised support prices and increased federal outlays.
On January 2, 2013, the 2008 farm bill was extended for one year (P.L. 112-240). All provisions that were in effect on September 30, 2012, were extended through FY2013 or for the 2013 crop year. On February 7, 2014, the Agricultural Act of 2014 (2014 farm bill; P.L. 113-79) was enacted to cover the 2014-2018 crop years and other programs through September 30, 2018.
Farm bill expiration does not affect all programs equally. For example:
An appropriations act or a continuing resolution can continue some farm bill programs even though a program's authority has expired. Programs using discretionary funding—and programs using appropriated mandatory funding like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) account—can be continued via appropriations action. Most farm bill programs with mandatory funding, with the exception of SNAP, generally cease new operations when they expire (e.g., the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), Market Assistance Program, and Specialty Crop Block Grants). However, existing contracts under prior-year authority can continue to be paid. The mandatory farm commodity programs of the 2008 farm bill not only ended with the 2013 crop, but without congressional action an outdated and expensive "permanent law" from the 1938 and 1949 farm bills stood ready to be implemented to cover the 2014 crop, beginning with dairy, on January 1, 2014. Crop insurance is an example of a permanently authorized and funded mandatory program that does not expire. Lastly, a subset of mandatory conservation programs had been extended through FY2014 prior to expiration and did not expire like other programs (e.g., the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, EQIP).
The one-year extension of the 2008 farm bill was budget-neutral. Congress extended those programs using an existing budget baseline. However, a subset of farm bill programs did not continue because they did not have a baseline. To be continued, those programs needed budgetary offsets. Likewise, budget reductions targeted in the 2014 farm bill were not achieved in the extension.