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Abstract
The U.S. Department of the Interior's Small Reclamation Projects Act (SRPA) program, by providing aid to improve existing irrigation systems, can increase irrigated acreage and crop production. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's commodity programs concurrently use target prices and acreage restrictions to cut production of surplus crops, namely corn, sorghum, oats, barley, wheat, rice, and upland cotton. This report reviews the links between SRPA loans and surplus crop production, and associated commodity program costs. The apparent conflict between the two programs is minor. A small percentage of USDA commodity program expenditures can be attributed to SRPA loans, and SRPA acres produce a small portion of USDA surplus crops.