The U.S. Senate on Tuesday passed a bill to bar farm subsidies to wealthy Americans, a step that small-farm advocates said could lead to reform of U.S. farm supports that cost billions of dollars a year.
The provision against subsidies to people with more than $1 million a year in adjusted gross income (all figures US$) was part of a funding bill that senators passed, 69-30. It must be reconciled with the U.S. House of Representatives’ legislation, which has no such limit, before becoming law.
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"It means the farm bill has to get serious about payment limits or it will not get majority support," said Ferd Hoefner of the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, which says the farm program should focus on small and family-size farms.
Four leaders of the House and Senate agriculture committees are now working on an overhaul of U.S. farm law. They have worked in private since mid-October on the plan, which would cut U.S. Department of Agriculture spending by $23 billion.
Their plan is expected to make revenue protection — a shield against low prices or poor yields — the goal of the farm program, replacing traditional price supports. Lawmakers disagree over how large a loss farmers should absorb before triggering federal payments and the role of crop insurance.
One of the leaders, Kansas Senator Pat Roberts, a Republican, said payment limits remained on the table for discussion.
Iowa Senator Charles Grassley, also a Republican, called for a $125,000 per-person limit on farm subsidy payments. There is no limit now. Grassley said the limit could be part of a bill, expected later this month, for government-wide spending cuts.
More than 3,000 farm program participants would be affected by the proposed ban on subsidies to people earning more than $1 million a year.
