Skip to main content

Lapse in Appropriations

Please note that a lapse in appropriations has caused GAO to shut down its operations. Therefore, GAO will not be able to publish reports or otherwise update this website until GAO resumes operations. In addition, the vast majority of GAO personnel are not permitted to work. Consequently, calls or emails to agency personnel may not be returned until GAO resumes operations. For details on how the bid protest process will be handled during the shutdown, please see the legal decisions page. For information related to the GAO Personnel Appeals Board (PAB), please see the PAB webpage.

Rice Program: Government Support Needs to Be Reassessed

RCED-94-88 Published: May 26, 1994. Publicly Released: Jun 28, 1994.
Jump To:
Skip to Highlights

Highlights

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Department of Agriculture's (USDA) rice program, focusing on its impact on the federal government and rice buyers and producers.

Recommendations

Matter for Congressional Consideration

Matter Status Comments
With the anticipated reauthorization of the farm bill in 1995 and the opportunities provided by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and the North American Free Trade Agreement, Congress may wish to consider ways to move rice producers toward greater market orientation and reduce their dependency on government support. For example, Congress could reduce government costs by lowering the target price, incorporating marketing loan gains into the calculation of deficiency payments, eliminating the 50/85 program, and reducing export assistance.
Closed – Implemented
Through the 1996 Farm Bill, the 104th Congress removed the link between rice deficiency payments and prices and provided farmers with a fixed-contract payment for 7 years. The farm bill also provides farmers with much greater flexibility to produce to the dictates of the marketplace and eliminates annual acreage reduction programs. These changes are expected to help move rice producers to a greater market orientation.
Because this approach could have a substantial impact on some producers, Congress may wish to consider options to give producers time to make adjustments in their investment decisions. Congress could, for example, phase out payments to producers over a number of years.
Closed – Implemented
The 1996 Farm Bill provides 7-year declining market transition payments to rice producers to help them transition to a greater reliance on the market place, rather than on government subsidies, in making their production decisions.

Full Report

Media Inquiries

Sarah Kaczmarek
Managing Director
Office of Public Affairs

Public Inquiries

Topics

Agricultural productionAgricultural programsCommodity marketingCost controlExportingFarm income stabilization programsFarm subsidiesGrain and grain productsInternational tradeMicroeconomic analysis