Senate panel OKs 5-year farm bill

 WASHINGTON – The Senate Agriculture Committee on Thursday approved a half-trillion dollar farm and food plan that ends the practice of paying farmers for crops they don’t grow.

 The five-year bill, which would supplant the current farm act set to expire in September, also shifts the agricultural safety net to crop insurance, consolidates conservation programs and takes aim at abuses in the federal food stamp program.

 The measure would cut the federal deficit by $23 billion, when compared with spending projections under the current farm bill, with $4 billion of that coming from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or food stamps. That’s accomplished by such steps as ending misuse by college students and cracking down on retailers and recipients trafficking in benefits. Food stamps, now received by more than 46 million Americans, take up about 80 percent of the spending in the bill.

 The 16-5 vote was the first step in what could be an arduous road to presenting the president with a new bill before the old one expires in five months. The bill faces resistance in the House, where the Republican majority is pressing for more extensive cuts to food stamps and other farm bill programs.