COMPARING THE 1996 AND 2002 FARM BILLS

The 2002 farm bill is a big change from the 1996 farm bill. The new bill introduces greater complexity through direct and countercyclical payments. A comparison of the 1996 and 2002 farm bills is needed to estimate how all the changes affect farmers and to guide future farm bill policy. This paper uses simulation analysis to estimate 10 years of net income under the 1996 and 2002 farm bills for three Kentucky counties. Results indicate that both net income and income variance are very similar in all three counties. Changing the projected prices for the simulation affects income under both farm bills almost equally.