Some Facts on the Farm Bill

June 13, 2012 JIssues

If you want to know more about the Farm Bill, you should head over to Bankrupting America.  Here are just a few nuggets of information they have found with their research:

Federal subsidies to farmers began after the Great Depression. Lawmakers then viewed safeguarding agriculture as a national security priority. But today the U.S. debt has increased nearly 50 percent since 2009 and farm incomes are surging to record levels.

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The biggest change the Senate is considering in this year’s farm bill is the elimination of  direct cash payments for farmers and the counter-cyclical program. [ In addition to these programs, the Senate farm bill would eliminate the Average Crop Revenue Election program. Unlike crop insurance, this program protects for multi-year price declines.] These changes have been proposed since it is “no longer is politically defensible given high farm incomes”. Although the bill eliminates these programs, an entirely new government program would take their place.

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