Although President George Washington recommended the creation of a national board of agriculture in 1796, a federal department of agriculture was not created until 66 years later. By the 1820’s most state legislatures and the Congress had established agriculture committees. Upon signing the act establishing the USDA on May 15, 1862, President Lincoln appointed Pennsylvania dairy farmer Isaac Newton the first Secretary of Agriculture.
According to the 2014 USDA budget, there are more than 98,000 federal and non-federal staff members in the department. The budget amounts to more than $145 billion providing a diverse list of services such as the Forest Service (USFS) and Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services. The USFS is by far the largest employer in the USDA with 33,000 employees and the ‘Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services’ agency soaks up $109 billion or 75% of the USDA budget.
Now called SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), the first food stamp program extended from May 16, 1939 to Spring 1943. Over four years, the program reached about 20 million people. The focus was on food surpluses including fruits and vegetables and processed items like cheese. Major legislative changes took place over the years and by 2013, more than 47 million people are participants in SNAP; about 1 in 7 people.
Food stamp benefits and eligibility vary by state after going national in 1974. Persons eligible for Supplemental Security Income are automatically eligible for SNAP. In most cases there is no work requirement for participation, allowing recipients to stay almost indefinitely on the program. Although fraud and abuse are under constant investigation, an even greater concern should be aimed at qualifications, as present rules appear to be so accommodating as to be ludicrous. Investigation found that in fiscal 2013, 549 stores were sanctioned and 826 stores were disqualified from SNAP.
It may be a surprise that the USDA also has an agency called Rural Housing Service (RHS) that supplies direct loans for single and multi-family homes as well as direct loans for Low-Income repairs. The USDA also confers grants for farm housing and guarantees local market loans (mortgages). Salaries and expenses for RHS totals $418 million for managing and overseeing the $1.5 billion spent on programs.
While farm subsidies are currently undergoing modification, a recent report profiled a farmer in the Midwest with 6,000 acres in production. Buying $3 million in tractors and equipment, he qualified for a $500,000 tax break for buying the new equipment. He commented that if this type of subsidy goes away, he and other farmers would revert to keeping equipment for several years. Other farm benefits include crop insurance, direct and guaranteed loans, grants and special support for ‘Socially Disadvantaged’ Farmers.
There are more than 2 million farms in the U.S. that till an average of 417 acres for a total of 913 million productive acres of land. Agriculture production in 2012 was $436 billion with about $136 billion exported. Each $1 billion of agricultural exports accounts for 6,800 jobs and an additional $1.3 billion in economic activity
The USDA provides financial support for 4,400 schools near national forests, food stamps and nutrition support as a social entitlement, rural housing and marketing regulations that synthetically increase prices for sugar, raisins and other commodities. The USDA seems to be duplicating many functions such as school funding (Department of Education), housing (Federal Housing Administration) and direct loans (local market availability). Critics believe greater oversight for SNAP would be achieved by creating a separate funding law.
Bureaucratic politicians have transformed the USDA from a vital focused organization into an omnibus agency with too many employees, too many obligations and too much overhead and expense. The operative strategy for politicians turned government officials seems to be, ”Create in perpetuity departments and agencies with more federal jobs, new convoluted regulations requiring more government dependence with no concern for escalating costs to taxpayers.”
– Dick Baynton
