Bill Would Pay For Fewer Acres

Farmers would have a greater chance to grow the crops they please but would get payments on fewer acres under a farm bill proposal introduced Thursday by a Mississippi senator.

Republican Sen. Thad Cochran’s proposal is expected to carry weight because of his senior position on the Agriculture Committee.

The measure also keeps many favored elements of traditional programs for cotton, corn and other feed grains, rice and wheat. Deficiency payments, which give growers the difference between a congressionally set target price and the real market price, would be maintained, but target prices would be frozen at 1990 levels.

A key provision would allow farmers to switch crops from year-to-year on land traditionally used for one government-supported crop, without losing their chance to return to that crop. Growers would receive payments on only 75 percent of the acres traditionally planted to program crops, rather than the current 85 percent.

The decrease in paid acres would cut $5.7 billion from farm spending over seven years.