Washington – Thousands of the nation’s richest farmers would lose their government subsidies under a Bush administration plan to curb farm spending.
Proposals released Wednesday would reduce federal agriculture spending by $18 billion over the next five years. They represent President Bush’s vision of a new farm bill: a system of supports that would protect farm income and crop prices and keep food prices stable.
Anyone making more than $200,000 in adjusted gross income would be cut off from farm payments under Bush’s plan. At that level, “you’re the richest guy in the county,” Deputy Agriculture Secretary Chuck Conner said.
Such producers, about 80,000 in all, are among the top 2.3 percent of taxpayers, officials said. It’s hard to know just who would be cut off, said Ken Cook, president of Environmental Working Group, which tracks subsidies. Cook said many high-profile recipients, such as media mogul and CNN founder Ted Turner, probably were cut off in 2002, when Congress imposed the current $2.5 million income cap.
“You end up eliminating absentee owners who have a lot of income they’re trying to shelter in agriculture,” Cook said. “It could be a small-town lawyer or a business executive in Memphis who’s put some money into a cotton plantation.”
For everyone else who is eligible, the ceiling on payments would still be $360,000, and there would still be loopholes allowing some to collect millions of dollars above the limits.
Most payments go to growers of five major crops: corn, soybeans, wheat, rice and cotton.
In all, the plan is not a radical departure from current farm programs, which Democratic leaders and major farm groups have pushed to maintain.
“I believe so strongly in what farmers said,” Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said, describing forums he held in dozens of states. “They like the structure of this farm bill, but they have a big vision for the future.”
Some proposals, such as payment limits for the wealthy, are touchy subjects on Capitol Hill.
