House Agriculture Committee chairman Collin Peterson is recommending that Congress should “make a serious effort” to prevent federal farm subsidies from going to nonfarmers in the new 2007 Farm Bill.
Senators were to vote in coming days on two proposals to tighten farm subsidy rules. One would put a “hard” cap of $250,000 a year on payments per farm. The other would deny payments to people with an adjusted gross income above $750,000.
At a conference sponsored by Farm Journal magazine, the Minnesota Democrat said lawmakers should “make a serious effort to eliminate nonfarmers from farm payments.” To reach that point, Peterson said in a speech late on Monday, “one thing we’re looking at” is whether the new farm law should spell out who qualifies as a farmer. Another step would be to change how the law defines a farm.
Peterson said he would present his ideas when House and Senate negotiators meet to write a final, compromise version of the five-year farm bill. Subsidies are supposed to go only to people “actively engaged” in farming, but there are many complaints the term is poorly defined and laxly enforced. The Senate proposal for a “hard” cap on payments also would toughen the definition.