The congressional impasse on how to fund President Obama's Affordable Care Act has brought all federal agencies to a standstill. Some 800,000 workers in federal agencies are furloughed, while tens of thousand of others in security and law enforcement will have to serve with no pay.

Need a good primer on what services will remain? USA Today has a good rundown. Read this explainer from ABC News if you're wanting something more lighthearted.

The last time this happened was 17 years ago. And much like then, the political strategy behind the shutdown is backfiring. As much as citizens are nervous, concerned and questioning the upcoming Obamacare mandate - polls show they don't favor shutting down public services to eviscerate the legislation.

Meanwhile for the ag industry and beef producers, there's some things to know. The USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service will continue to inspect meat supplies through the shutdown as part of its responsibilities to monitor food for human safety and global export.

The Food and Drug Administration will maintain certain services on a limited basis, which will include high risk recalls.

Meanwhile the USDA's Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration will provide grain and related commodity type inspection and weighting services only to those maintained with user fees.

For those who rely on E-verify, be aware that those services will lapse during the shutdown. There also will be no economic or statistical reporting from USDA agencies, and research agencies will be closed as well.

As for the Farm Bill, it expired at 12 a.m. Tuesday, closing a number of subsidy programs. And much like last year, the countdown worth watching will be toward Jan. 1, 2014 - when commodity supports could jump again (remember the talk about $8 per gallon milk?). Roll Call is also reporting that the Foreign Market Development Program and the Market Access Program, will be among the first Farm Bill programs affected by the expiring bill.