The 2002 farm bill  replaced the longtime (65-year) support program for peanuts with a framework identical in structure to the program for the so-called covered commodities

Covered commodities

Covered commodities are crops eligible for the Direct and Counter-cyclical Program under commodity program provisions under the 2002 farm bill . These are wheat, corn, grain sorghum, barley, oats, upland cotton, rice, soybeans, and other oilseeds...

 (wheat, corn, grain sorghum, barley, oats, upland cotton, rice, soybeans, and other oilseeds). The three components of the Peanut Price Support Program are fixed direct payments (at $36/ton), counter-cyclical payments (based on a target price of $495/ton), and marketing assistance loans

Marketing assistance loans

Marketing assistance loans are nonrecourse loans made available to producers of loan commodities under the 2002 farm bill...

 or loan deficiency payments

Loan deficiency payments

In United States agriculture policy, Loan deficiency payments are a farm income support program first authorized by the Food Security Act of 1985 that makes direct payments, equivalent to marketing loan gains, to producers who agree not to obtain nonrecourse loans, even though they are eligible....

 (LDPs) (based on a loan rate of $355/ton). The peanut poundage quota

Peanut poundage quota

Poundage quotas were authorized by the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938, so the peanut poundage quota was the supply control mechanism for the peanut price support program until its revision in the 2002 farm bill ....

 and the two-tiered pricing

Two-tiered pricing

Two-tiered pricing refers to a system under which commodities for domestic use are supported at one level and those for export markets at another, lower level....

 features of the old program were repealed. Only historic peanut producers

Historic peanut producers

In United States agricultural policy, Historic peanut producers are those producers who were actively involved in planting and harvesting peanuts in the 1998-2001 period. Under the 2002 farm bill In United States agricultural policy, Historic peanut producers are those producers who were actively...

 are eligible for the Direct and Counter-cyclical Program

Direct and Counter-Cyclical Program

The Direct and Counter-cyclical Payment Program of the USDA provides payments to eligible producers on farms enrolled for the 2002 through 2007 crop years. There are two types of DCP payments – direct payments and counter-cyclical payments...

(DCP). All current production is eligible for marketing assistance loans and LDPs. Previous owners of peanut quota were compensated through a buy-out
program at a rate of 55¢/lb. ($1,100/ton) over a 5-year period.