Seeking Meaningful Budget Cuts
First and foremost, Congress should put effective and meaningful caps on payments to the nation’s largest farms – payments they use to drive smaller operations out of business.
There are practical options for reducing mega farm payments that together would save billion, including:
- The Grassley Johnson Rural America Preservation Act. It closes loopholes and makes the existing limits real.
- Phasing down subsidies on federal crop insurance for the largest farms. Overall, the government covers about 60 percent of the cost of crop insurance. If one company farmed the whole country, it would get fully subsidized crop insurance costs on every acre.
- Put “counter cyclical limits” on direct payments – the payments made every year regardless of crop prices. In years when crop prices are high and the farm does not suffer a crop failure, payments would be capped at a lower level.
These options are far more effective than the recently proposed alternative of denying payments to people with incomes over $200,000. That won’t touch most mega farms. They can keep their taxable income below the limits by buying more land, livestock and equipment and by splitting income between each of the spouses and the farm corporation. It won’t hurt investors in farmland. They will let their farmer tenants collect the payments and then capture them through high dollar cash rents.
If Congress protects powerful big farm interests, it will be left to short-change investments in the future of rural America and make deeper cuts on mid-size farms. Rural development programs that support small business and small towns have already been cut by close to one-third. The House of Representatives recently proposed eliminating the 2007 farm bill program that funds loans, training and technical assistance for rural micro businesses.
Programs to support beginning farmers are in jeopardy. And at the center of the cross hairs are conservation programs that reward farmers and ranchers who protect America’s land and water, especially the Conservation Stewardship Program. Farmers who are doing things right on the land will be denied their just reward.
Addressing the budget crisis requires setting priorities that reflect the common good of Americans and help secure our future. It’s time to stop mega subsidies for mega farms. We cannot afford them, and they harm rural America. No budget legislation that protects them and instead cuts investments in rural America’s future deserves our support or our respect.
Agree or disagree? Send your comments to Chuck Hassebrook, chuckh@cfra.org or 402.687.2103 ext. 1018.



Comments
Scale back Ag subsidies
While I agree with that,
Those prices explain more
We cannot afford them, and
Good
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Budget Cuts?
Response
I agree with the earlier
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Meaningful Budget Cuts
Daily Aitadal
Irrrm a sucker for has an
finding a reasonable budget
but what else we can do, just
I do get some history, too,
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