VOA慢速英语:Congress Has been Debating a New Farm Bill
From VOA Learning English, this is the Agriculture Report.
Congress has been debating a new farm bill -- a huge five-year plan that includes subsidy programmes for American farmers.
Government payments make up 8% of the income on farmers growing such major crops as maize, wheat, soybeans, cotton and peanuts. That 8% is one of the lowest rates among developed countries. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development says the average among its members is 20%.
One reason for the low payments is high global crop prices, the subsidies that pays farmers when the markets are down has not been used much recently. Grain prices are way up, farmers have earned record or near record profits in the past few years. But they still receive about 5 billion dollars per year in what her called direct payments. These payments go to farmers whether crop prices are high or low. Farmers do not even have to grow a crop to get direct payments.
But Congress want to cut 20 to 40 billion dollars from the farm bill. Even the largest farmers group, The American Farm Bureau Federation expects that direct payments will soon end. Mary Kay Thatcher is the chief lobbyist for the group.
"Well, I think politically people feel like it's farmers getting money for doing nothing."
But there are proposals to increase subsidies once crop prices go down again. One version would raise market price below which farmers receive a payment, another version would protect their total income when prices fall.
David Orden is an economist with the International Food Policy Institute. He says both versions would anger farmers in other countries, that is because American farmers would receive payments when farmers in other countries are also dealing with falling prices.
"Right at the point, it was US expense subsidies, shake their heads and say they are going to US again, protecting its farmers right at the time, and we are feeling the pain."
But Agricultural Secretary Tom Vilsack tells VOA that the payments would not hurt farmers in other countries.
"I am confident that the work has been done up to this point by the US, the work would be done in the future, and we will not get into a position where we are doing more than the international community will aware."
David Orden says that is probably true, under World Trade Organizaiton rules, the United States can spend 19 billion dollars on the kind of subsidies proposed in the new farm bill. Mr Orden says American farmers would have to face an especially bad year to go over that limit.
Negotiators have been working for more than ten years on new WTO rules, that would lower that limit, but Mr Orden says no progress is being made.
And that's the Agricultural Report from VOA Learning English, I'm Steve Ember.
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