NELSON JOINS BIPARTISAN EFFORT TO LIMIT MEGA FARM PAYMENTS

March 21, 2012 – Today, Nebraska’s Senator Ben Nelson announced that he and a bipartisan group of senators are introducing legislation to cap federal farm payments that have for years gone to large farming operations.
“For too long, mega farms have received mega payments, putting family farms at a disadvantage,” Senator Nelson said today on his weekly conference call with the Nebraska media. “Our bipartisan bill sets a reasonable threshold, capping farm payments at no more than $250,000 for any single farm per year.
“With farm income booming and our deficit far too large, the time has come to rein in these payments.”
Nelson, a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, sponsored the payment limits bill with senators Chuck Grassley and Tom Harkin both of Iowa, Tim Johnson of South Dakota, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Mike Enzi of Wyoming and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York.
In specific, the bill reduces total payments for a married couple – including direct payments if they are continued, counter-cyclical payments, acreage crop revenue election payments and any new form of price or revenue-triggered commodity payments in the next farm bill—from $210,000 to $100,000. It also reduces marketing loan gains and loan deficiency payments from no limit at all to $150,000.
“I have believed for a long time, along with most Nebraskans, that our farm program should not encourage consolidation in agriculture and it should provide incentives to our small and medium size farms,” Nelson said. “These mega payments to mega farms do the opposite, and it’s time to end them.
“As I’ve said many times, our farm policy needs to move in the direction of crop insurance to provide the safety net farmers need, and away from direct payments.”
According to the Environmental Working Group, fewer than two dozen farms in Nebraska received payments in excess of $250,000 in 2010.
The bill also closes loopholes that allow large farms to collect far higher payments than the law seems to allow. Current rules are vague on what constitutes “actively managing” farm operations, so mega farms have collected large subsidies. Nelson said that he hopes their proposal will be included in this year’s farm bill that Congress is working on, and that a new multi-year farm bill will win congressional approval later this year.