Senators introduce payment limit bill
February 12, 2013 | 04:32 PM
Sens. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, Tim Johnson, D-S.D., Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, today introduced a bill to place a hard cap on farm payments that a farmer can receive in a year, and to close what they consider to be loopholes in farm payments.
The Farm Program Integrity Act of 2013 mirrors language that was included in the Senate-passed farm and nutrition bill in 2012, Grassley said in a news release.
The legislation would establish a per farm cap of $50,000 on all commodity program benefits, except those associated with the marketing loan program (loan deficiency payments and marketing loan gains), which would be capped at $75,000.
Thus the combined limit would be $125,000, or, for married couples, $250,000.
The $50,000 cap would apply to whatever type of program is developed as part of the new farm bill, Grassley said.
The bill would also define the scope of people who are able to qualify as actively engaged by only providing management for the farming operation. The bill will allow one off-farm manager, but only one.
Landowners who share with or rent land to an actively-engaged producer remain exempt from the “actively engaged” rules, provided their payments are commensurate to their risk in the crop produced.
This provision will help the Agriculture Department crack down on the general partnerships that have multiple non-farmers trying to qualify for farm payments by exploiting the management loophole, Grassley said.
In news releases, the senators said that the measure would assure that farmers who need the money get it, and that paying attention to farm program integrity will improve the image of farm programs among the general public.
The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition endorsed the bill.
“Adoption of the Farm Program Integrity Act would put an end to widespread abuse in farm programs,” according to NSAC Policy Director Ferd Hoefner.
“As currently structured, farm programs make mega payments to mega farms and absentee passive investors, subsidizing farm consolidation and the demise of family farms,” Hoefner said. “The Farm Program Integrity Act ensures that scarce federal dollars would flow to working farmers instead of to passive investors and general partners whose primary purpose in the operation is simply to collect additional government checks.”
The Farm Program Integrity Act of 2013 mirrors language that was included in the Senate-passed farm and nutrition bill in 2012, Grassley said in a news release.
The legislation would establish a per farm cap of $50,000 on all commodity program benefits, except those associated with the marketing loan program (loan deficiency payments and marketing loan gains), which would be capped at $75,000.
Thus the combined limit would be $125,000, or, for married couples, $250,000.
The $50,000 cap would apply to whatever type of program is developed as part of the new farm bill, Grassley said.
The bill would also define the scope of people who are able to qualify as actively engaged by only providing management for the farming operation. The bill will allow one off-farm manager, but only one.
Landowners who share with or rent land to an actively-engaged producer remain exempt from the “actively engaged” rules, provided their payments are commensurate to their risk in the crop produced.
This provision will help the Agriculture Department crack down on the general partnerships that have multiple non-farmers trying to qualify for farm payments by exploiting the management loophole, Grassley said.
In news releases, the senators said that the measure would assure that farmers who need the money get it, and that paying attention to farm program integrity will improve the image of farm programs among the general public.
The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition endorsed the bill.
“Adoption of the Farm Program Integrity Act would put an end to widespread abuse in farm programs,” according to NSAC Policy Director Ferd Hoefner.
“As currently structured, farm programs make mega payments to mega farms and absentee passive investors, subsidizing farm consolidation and the demise of family farms,” Hoefner said. “The Farm Program Integrity Act ensures that scarce federal dollars would flow to working farmers instead of to passive investors and general partners whose primary purpose in the operation is simply to collect additional government checks.”
