ABSTRACT
The food stamp program won a slight restoration of benefits cut since 1981. The economic crisis affecting many farmers will in fact be made worse by the legislation, which lowered farm income by lowering both price and income supports. By April 1, 1987, all states will be required to have in place ‘employment and training’ programs in which a set percentage of food stamp households must participate. The food stamp basic benefit allotment is based on the Thrifty Food Plan, but the Congress in earlier legislation already restored the benefit allotment to 100 percent of the Thrifty Food Plan. Other food and farm programs, from soil conservation to Farmers Home Administration loans to foreign assistance, face potentially devastating Gramm-Rudman reductions through 1991. Once these laws were strictly agricultural, and that was reflected in their titles – for example, the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933 and the Agricultural Act of 1949.
