Politico has a nice
piece on the farm bill.
Within the commodity title itself, about $50.2 billion
would be saved by repealing current subsidies, chiefly the cash
payments. From these savings, $28.8 billion would be re-invested in a
new revenue insurance program that would give farmers added protection
against “shallow losses” —not covered now by traditional crop insurance.
The new approach is most popular in the Midwest Corn Belt, and
Southern cotton and peanuts have been promised concessions in the
process. But there is still Southern regional sympathy with rice
growers, who are put at a decided disadvantage and who had been banking
on some relief through a more traditional system of target prices and
supports.
Because of its high capital costs, rice has relied most heavily of
the direct cash subsidies and will lose as much as $3 billion from the
proposed change in commodity payments. At the same time, rice has been
reluctant to jump into crop insurance, since the crop is grown in
flooded paddies not vulnerable to drought.
Of course the rice growers have big bucks to throw around. (I'm reading David Corn's latest book with a reminder of an estate tax modification pushed by Sen. Lincoln which got included in the deal between Obama and the Reps after the 2010 election. Wonder who was pushing it?)
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