Steve Karnowski of Bloomberg Businessweek reports that while the upcoming election results are unknown, farm program payments are unlikely to change regardless of whether Republicans or Democrats are in control of Congress.
Both parties seem to support the payments, but "federal farm programs could be examined closely given the size of the deficit and the chance that the election could change the makeup of the agriculture committees and their leadership."
Subsidy payments are largely supported, but direct payments, "a $5 billion a year subsidy that pays landowners a set per-acre amount regardless of what they're currently growing or whether prices are high or low[,]" may be scrutinized. Recently, the Iowa Farm Bureau called for an end to direct payments and instead called for the funding to be redirected to other risk management programs. Direct payments, however, are popular with Southern farmers.
To read the Bloomberg Businessweek story, click here.
Posted: 10/18/2010
