[Vwdiesel] (long) what was that about farm subsidies? - and check out the blurb on bioenergy!

[Josh W]

Farmers welcome bigger subsidies

Legislation reverses policy to reduce government support

Tuesday, May 14, 2002

Paul Souhrada and Jack Torry Dispatch Staff Reporters; Associated
Press
Chris Corder / UPI

President Bush got up early yesterday for the bipartisan signing ceremony of the farm bill, which greatly increases government spending on agriculture during the next 10 years, much to the chagrin of many conservative Republicans who say the $180 billion cost is too much. The bill reverses national policy, set in 1996, to reduce those subsidies.



Mike Munden / Dispatch

The bill is good news for Ohio farmers, say Wood County brothers- in-law Andy Jones, left, and Chuck Bresler, right, who took over farming almost 2,000 acres of grain near Bowling Green from Chuck's father, Phil, center, in 1997. Last year, farm subsidies provided half the income for Bresler and Jones and they welcome the increased spending on agriculture that's included in the new legislation, which passed Congress last week. They say the bill ensures Americans a steady supply of food at low cost.



Farm bill highlights

COST

$180 billion over 10 years, a 70 percent increase over the cost of continuing existing programs.

FARM SUBSIDIES

Raises price guarantees, known as loan rates, for barley, corn, oats, sorghum and wheat. Continues fixed annual payments to grain and cotton farms. Creates new target- price system, similar to one abolished in 1996, to provide supplemental payments for those farms when prices fall below certain levels. Allows farmers to update planting records used in calculating certain payments.
Caps payments at $360,000 with a loophole that allows farmers to receive unlimited subsidies under the loan program.
Establishes new subsidies for dairy farmers as well as producers of chickpeas, honey, lentils, mohair, peanuts and wool. The dairy subsidies are limited to production equivalent of about 135 cows. Continues price support system for sugar, using controls on imports.
Ends a quota system that props up peanut prices. As compensation, farmers and others who own quotas will receive 11 cents a pound annually for five years.

CONSERVATION

Establishes the Conservation Security Program, at a cost of $2 billion, to pay crop farmers for improved environmental practices. The program, which pays farmers to idle environmentally sensitive land, will be expanded from its current limit of 36.4 million acres to 39.2 million acres.
Quadruples the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, which subsidizes manure cleanup and other improvements, at a cost of $9 billion over 10 years. A single farm or feedlot could receive as much as $450,000.

BIOENERGY

$405 million to encourage development and use of fuels made from crops.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

$1 billion in new spending for rural development, including $360 million for water and sewage assistance, and $240 million for assisting farmer-owned businesses.

TRADE

$1.1 billion for trade assistance, including $650 million for overseas promotion of U.S. food and beverages.