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Federal price support programs have not included dry beans since the late 1960s. However, the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (2008 Farm Act) includes large chickpeas (garbanzo beans) in some commodity programs. For the 2009-12 crops, producers of garbanzo beans will be eligible to receive marketing assistance loans and loan deficiency payments, as well as benefits from counter-cyclical payments or the Average Crop Revenue Election (ACRE) program. (Dry peas, lentils, and small chickpeas became program crops in the 2002 Farm Act.)
Loan rates for garbanzo beans (large chickpeas) are set at $11.28 per hundredweight (cwt) for crop years 2009-12, with target prices (used to calculate counter-cyclical payments; there are no direct payments for pulse crops) set at $12.81 per cwt during the same period.
The 2008 Farm Act retains the longstanding provision on planting restrictions for dry beans (excluding mung beans and, beginning in crop year 2009, garbanzo beans/large chickpeas) on base acres. Planting dry beans (excluding mung beans and garbanzo beans/large chickpeas) on base acres is prohibited unless the producer or farm has a history of planting dry beans, but payments are reduced acre-for-acre on such plantings. Double cropping of dry beans is permitted without loss of payments if the region has a history of such double cropping.
Dry bean markets are also influenced by a number of general programs, including:
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