Tear Up the Farm Bill and Start Over

As usual, things are behind schedule in Washington. After months of wrangling, Congress is trying to push a compromise farm bill over the finish line at the eleventh hour by larding it up with goodies and killing any semblance of reform. For example, despite efforts to close a loophole that allows family members of farmers to receive subsidies even if they do not live or work on a farm, the final version of the bill expands that loophole to allow distant relatives such as cousins, nieces, and nephews to qualify for subsidies.

That subsidy is worth up to $125,000 a year, about twice 2017’s national median household income. It’s nice work if you can get it. And you don’t even have to bother with the actual work part. So long as you fill out the paperwork and claim some sort of management responsibility, which could mean as little as joining a conference call once a month, you can be eligible for subsidies, as can your spouse and all your family members.

Farm policy should focus limited benefits on farmers who truly need them as a result of real, unforeseen economic challenges — it should provide a true safety net. It should prioritize the needs of both farmers and taxpayers. Making farm owners’ cousins, nieces, nephews, and spouses eligible for farm subsidies takes “safety net” to a whole new level. It’s more of a “friends and family” benefit plan.

And that’s far from the only problem with this bill. Instead of forcing the legislation through at the last possible second, Congress should tear it up and start over next year.

Farm bills are often touted as a way to nurture small businesses, protect “the little guy,” and save family farms, but the reality is quite different. A 2017 Congressional Research Service report found that “farms with market revenue equal to or greater than $250,000 accounted for 12 percent of farm households, but received 60 percent of federal farm program payments.” Other research by Vincent Smith at the American Enterprise Institute found that the smallest 80 percent of farms received just 10 percent of all subsidies.