Zombie Programs: The USDA Programs Nobody Uses

Programs with Fewer Than 100 Payments

Why These Programs Still Exist

Bureaucratic inertia is powerful. Once a program is created and codified in the Farm Bill, it persists until Congress actively eliminates it — which rarely happens. Each program has its own regulations, staff assignments, and institutional knowledge. Even programs with single-digit payments per year continue because:

• Statutory mandate: The Farm Bill authorizes them, so the USDA must administer them
• Constituency protection: Even tiny programs have beneficiaries who lobby to keep them
• Administrative overhead: Closing a program requires formal rulemaking and congressional approval
• Just in case: Some disaster-specific programs exist for rare events (volcanic eruptions, etc.)

The Reform Opportunity

Consolidating or eliminating zombie programs wouldn't save huge sums — $65.1M across all 43 programs is a rounding error in a $147 billion system. But it would reduce administrative complexity, free up FSA staff time, and simplify the bewildering landscape that farmers must navigate.

The program proliferation analysis explores the broader complexity problem. With 157 programs, even well-informed farmers struggle to know what they qualify for.