clarinews@clarinet.com (CHARLES J. ABBOTT, UPI Farm Editor) (02/07/90)
WASHINGTON (UPI) -- The Bush administration presented a package of farm policy proposals Tuesday that would give farmers more freedom to plant profit-making crops while reducing the use of subsidies to shore up farm income. The package -- more than six dozen ideas that Congress could include in the new farm policy law it must write this year -- includea a proposal for a disaster aid program to replace the money-losing crop insurance program and plans for using the Conservation Reserve to protect water purity. Agriculture Secretary Clayton Yeutter described the package as ``a set of amendments'' to improve the current farm law, which was written in 1985 and expires this year. Farmers generally have been happy with the 1985 law and House Agriculture Committee leaders plan to use it as the basis for the new bill. Congressional reaction to the administration's proposals was mixed. Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., of the Senate Agriculture Committee said the package failed to address environmental needs. House Agriculture Chairman Kika de la Garza, D-Texas, said the saw no basic differences ``that we cannot work out.'' A spokeswoman for the American Farm Bureau Federation, the nation's largest farm organization, said it welcomed efforts to give farmers more freedom. However, she said the package ``seems to have been written exclusive of the budget process'' and, for instance, made no suggestion for target price levels. Target prices are a key in determing support payments to farmers. The administration took an unusual step by offering a set of ideas instead of a formal bill, a tactic that helps avoid criticism of specifics and focuses attention on changing policy. The central point in the administration package is giving farmers more flexibility in deciding which crops to grow so they can earn money in the marketplace, rather than planting crops just to maintain eligibility for government subsidies. ``We feel it's time to get back to market orientation,'' Yeutter said. To do that, the package proposed adoption of a form of the ``normal crop acreage'' concept used in the late 1970s. That would make it easier for farmers to shift acreage among crops. In addition, farmers would be allowed to plant oilseeds, such as soybeans, sunflowers and canola, on land normally reserved for crops covered by the farm program without jeopardizing eligibility for subsidies. U.S. oilseed acreage has dropped by 10 million acres in the past decade despite growing world demand -- a development farm groups have blamed on government rules. ``We believe that we've responded to that soybean situation in a very effective way here by, in essence, treating the oilseed crops as program crops in a whole variety of ways,'' Yeutter said, adding, ``We no longer tilt production toward one of these other crops.'' The department forecast under its proposal, soybean and wheat acreage would increase with less land devoted to feed grains such as corn. Crop flexibility also would allow farmers to employ alternative techniques, such as crop rotation or reduced levels of farm chemicals, that have environmental benefits, Yeutter said. Yeutter refused to estimate the cost of the administration's proposals but argued farmer income should run at ``very satisfactory'' levels ``even though the total contribution of the government will almost inevitably decline.'' The government has forecast 6 cents of every dollar in gross farm income this year will come from federal payments, which would be half the 1987 rate. President Bush has asked Congress to terminate the federally subsidized crop insurance program. As a replacement, Yeutter proposed a permanent disaster program run by the Agriculture Department that would issue payments to farmers whenever they lost at least 40 percent of a crop. The maximum payment would be $100,000 and no payments would be made to farmers with gross income above $2 million. The package also proposes: --Using the Conservation Reserve to enroll buffer strips and other areas that could prevent water contamination by farm chemicals. The reserve also would be used to restore wetlands. --Tightening eligibility for Farmers Home Administration farm loans, putting a 17-year limit on how long a farmer could receive aid, and limiting a farmer to receiving one loan restructuring. --Basing set aside requirements on expected supply and demand for a crop, not just expected supply. --Making it easier for homeless people to get food stamps; also tougher penalties for misuse of food stamps and expansion of systems that electronically record purchases.