Farm boom undercuts push for new subsidy package

A House panel cut subsidies for wealthy farmers Thursday. Will Congress slash even deeper?

from the July 24, 2007 edition

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Genoa, Ill. - On a warm July afternoon, with the Illinois sun glinting off a field of lush green corn, Joel Gerlt steps between the rows and disappears.

"This is really exceptional," he says, standing among stalks that tower above him and are not done growing. "I've never seen it this high at this time of year."

For Mr. Gerlt and many other Midwestern farmers, these are exceptional times indeed. Prices are high. The national appetite for corn seems insatiable. At the same time, farmers' good fortune has thrust them into the center of a fierce debate in Washington over how much help they deserve from US taxpayers.

As Congress enters the late stages of crafting a new farm bill, high prices for many commodities have made it harder than ever to defend crop subsidies that pay farmers billions of dollars a year, even in good years. At the same time, a growing chorus of voices is calling for a shift to other priorities, including rural development, aid to fruit and vegetable growers, food stamps, biofuel programs, and especially conservation.

Under those twin pressures, the House Agriculture Committee last week approved a five-year measure eliminating subsidies for farmers with $1 million or more in adjusted gross income. But it also increased supports for some crops and introduced new ones for others. The full House could take up the bill this week.

Agriculture groups "are strong enough now, but smart people among the commodity groups say all the time that they know it's a rear-guard battle and that we have to change something," says Ferd Hoefner, policy director for the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, an umbrella organization in Washington, D.C. "Production subsidies are losing public support."

Conservation is a likely beneficiary of change. For example, the House committee bill boosts land-conservation programs and wetlands protection.

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