Sugar Program: The Basics (CRS Report for Congress)
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| Release Date |
Revised April 1, 2014 |
| Report Number |
R42535 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
Remy Jurenas, Specialist in Agricultural Policy |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
| Older Revisions |
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Summary:
The sugar program provides a price guarantee to the processors of sugarcane and sugar beets, and in turn, to the producers of both crops. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) also is directed to administer the program at no budgetary cost to the federal government by limiting the amount of sugar supplied for food use in the U.S. market. To achieve both objectives, USDA uses four tools--as reauthorized without change by the 2014 farm bill to be in effect through crop year 2018 and found in long-standing trade law--to keep domestic market prices above guaranteed levels. These are: [1] price support loans at specified levels--the basis for the price guarantee, [2] marketing allotments to limit the amount of sugar that each processor can sell, [3] import quotas to restrict the amount of sugar allowed to enter the U.S. market, and [4] a sugar-to-ethanol (feedstock flexibility) backstop--available if marketing allotments and import quotas fail to prevent a sugar surplus from developing (i.e., fail to keep market prices above guaranteed levels). For background on sugar policy debate, see CRS [Congressional Research Service] Report R42551, 'Sugar Provisions of the 2014 Farm Bill (P.L. 113-79).'
