Grassley and Feingold Propose Legislation Focusing on More Payments to Small Farms
Bill would limit payments and close loopholes to ensure payments go to working farmers.
Compiled by staff
Published: Aug 5, 2010
Senators Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa and Russ Feingold, D-Wisc., introduced legislation Wednesday that would set a limit of $250,000 dollars for farm payments in an attempt to get farm program payments to family farmers and save the federal treasury more than $1billion over the next 10 years. The bill specifically caps direct payments at $40,000, counter cyclical payments at $60,000, and marketing loan gains, forfeitures, loan deficiency payments and commodity certificates at $150,000. It would also improve the USDA's standard for determining which farmers are actively engaged in their operations.
Beyond setting the payment limit, the Grassley-Feingold Rural America Preservation Act will simplify the complicated legal games now played to avoid existing limitations; close loopholes; and ensure payments flow to working farmers. Grassley says the farm program was never intended to help big farmers get bigger, rather to help those who couldn't withstand the political whims of Washington or the fierce reckonings of Mother Nature. He states public confidence in federal farm programs is eroded when 10% of the nation's farmers receive more than 70% of the payments. He says this legislation is a way to stop that trend from growing.
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Tagged: farm, usda, legal
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