The fall season brings with it crisp air, changing foliage, pumpkin spice lattes, and Halloween candy to give to little devils, ghosts, heroes, princesses, and witches.

However, the cost of coffee and candy is higher than it should be, thanks to the price controls on sugar through production quotas, import restrictions and subsidies.  The guaranteed minimum price for sugar has been set by the government since 1981, and every five years Congress sets sugar policy in the farm bill reauthorization package.  The renegotiation of the farm bill also provides an opportunity for programmatic changes to nutrition programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which provides food assistance to eligible low-income households.

A February 1, 2022 American Enterprise Institute study found the U.S. sugar program costs consumers between $2.4 to $4 billion a year, and caused an “induced” loss of 17,000 to 20,000 jobs in food processing and confectionary industries.  The 2018 Farm bill set the fiscal year (FY) 2020-2024 price for raw cane at 19.75 cents per pound and 25.38 cents per pound for refined beet sugar. 

For the past two years, the 118th Congress has been working on reauthorizing the Farm bill, which expired on September 30, 2023.  Congress passed a one-year extension on November 19, 2023, but that extension expired for programs tied to the fiscal year on September 30, 2024.  When the House reported H.R. 8467, the Farm, Food, and National Security Act, out of the House Committee on Agriculture on May 23, 2024, Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-Pa.) invited Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Ranking Member John Boozman (R-Ark.) “to the table, just as I have consistently done with House Democrats. … there is a path to a bipartisan compromise that addresses the needs of rural America, enhances the farm safety net, and does right by our neighbors in need.”  The bill was not considered on the floor of the House and to date, there has not been an agreement between the two agriculture committees.

Instead, Chairwoman Stabenow and Ranking Member Boozman have provided their competing proposals to reauthorize the farm bill, including different ideas for reforms of the sugar program.  The House package modernizes beet sugar allotments and prioritizes U.S. processors with available sugar.  The bill also requires the USDA to work with the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) to study refined sugar imports and report back to Congress on the results of the study within 180 days of enactment.  USDA and USTR should then move ahead with rulemaking if the study indicates the rules surrounding refined sugar imports need to be changed (since they are not working now, it would be absurd not to propose reforms).

Chairwoman Stabenow’s proposal increases sugar loan rates and adjusts the relationship between raw sugar and refined sugar to reflect current production and transportation costs.  The proposal also restricts the USDA secretary from increasing the quota for imports; modernizes beet sugar marking allotments and allocations; and requires the USDA to reallocate forecasted shortfalls in fulfillment of minimum tariff rate quotas for raw cane sugar.  Ranking Member Boozman’s proposal seeks to move “more domestic sugar into the market by modernizing the Tariff Rate Quota administration for raw cane sugar and marketing allocations for sugar beet processors while authorizing the Secretary to study and define ‘refined’ sugar.”

The Farm Bill also includes nutrition, conservation, feeding, and other agriculture programs.   Public Law 118-22 (H.R. 6363), the Continuing Appropriations and Other Extensions Act, 2024 (CR), extended funding at FY 2024 levels, including programs authorized by the 2018 farm bill and several other public health programs through November 17, 2024.  Among the programs covered by this extension to the farm bill is the SNAP program. 

Proposals to reauthorize SNAP  often include imposing restrictions on the type of foods, particularly those containing sugar, which can be purchased.  While one of the intended outcomes of these limitations is to combat obesity, the changes often include bottled beverages that may be no- and low-calorie items like sugar-free flavored water.  While there is an ongoing debate over the impact of sugar on obesity as well as whether the government should restrict purchases of certain items in the SNAP program, the list should not extend to unrelated food and drinks.

The reauthorization of the farm bill will now have to wait until Congress returns for a lame duck session in November after the elections once the members come to an agreement on the final package.  More likely, it will be pushed into the 119th Congress with yet another extension of programs that were included in the CR.  Modernizing the sugar program would make it sweeter to get coffee from the local barista and candy from the local neighborhood on Halloween, as well as having a positive impact on every product that includes sugar that can be bought at the local grocery store.