Bill Introduced To Rein In Farm Payments

Four U.S. Senators have announced legislation that would place a cap on the farm payments an individual farmer can receive in a year and close loopholes in the farm payment program. The Farm Program Integrity Act of 2013, introduced by Sens. Grassley (R-IA); Johnson (D-SD); Enzi (R-WY) and Brown (D-OH) mirrors language that was included in the Senate-passed farm and nutrition bill in 2012.

Farm Progress reports, the legislation would establish a per-farm cap of $50,000 on all commodity program benefits, except those associated with the marketing loan program (loan deficiency payments and marketing loan gains), which would be capped at $75,000. Thus, the combined limit would be $125,000 or, for married couples, $250,000. The $50,000 cap would apply to whatever type of program is developed as part of the new farm bill.

“Ending some of the most egregious abuses of the farm program will ensure that the farm program payments are going to those who need them most,” Grassley said. “It’s unacceptable that small- and medium-sized farmers get so little of the very program that was created to help them.”

Both the National Farmers Union and the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition support the bill.

“Farm bill programs should be designed to help protect family farmers in times of need, and should focus that assistance where it is most needed and is most helpful to family farmers as well as rural communities,” said NFU President Roger Johnson. “Directing farm program benefits so that they meet the reasonable needs of family farmers would reduce government costs while furthering the sustainability of our family farms, our rural communities and our natural resources.”

Ferd Hoefner, NSAC policy director, said the bill was an “excellent place to start,” noting the bill’s relation to the Farm Bill.

“The prospects for actually getting a new five-year bill enacted this year will be much improved if the dual principles reflected in the Farm Program Integrity Act — directing benefits to working farmers with reasonable caps — guide all farm safety net program deliberations.”