[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 82 (Thursday, May 17, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6301-S6302]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. LUGAR:
  S. 1422. A bill to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to establish a 
program to provide to agricultural operators and producers a reserve to 
assist in the stabilization of farm income during low-revenue years, to 
assist operators and producers to invest in value-added farms, to 
promote higher levels of environmental stewardship, and for other 
purposes; to the Committee on Finance.
  Mr. LUGAR. Mr. President, I rise to introduce the Farm Risk 
Management Act for the 21st Century. This bill is a

[[Page S6302]]

blueprint on how to transition away from the farm programs linked to 
the Great Depression into a new market driven system. We have also 
suggested how Congress could utilize achieved savings to improve our 
farm economy, our environment, alleviate hunger, promote renewable 
energy, and reduce our Federal deficit.
  Current Federal Farm Programs target payments to a relatively narrow 
sector of American farmers and provide direct payments regardless of 
commodity prices. The bulk of these payments are made to growers of 
just 5 crops. Cotton, rice, corn, wheat, and soybean farmers receive 
about 85 percent of the annual payments provided by U.S. taxpayers. 
Notably, about 70 percent of these payments go to only 10 percent of 
our nation's farmers.
  The current farm subsidy system is inequitable, inefficient, and 
disconnected from the core goal of maintaining a family farm safety 
net. It is also self-perpetuating, in that it stimulates over-
production and stagnant prices that produce calls for greater 
Government support. I believe that what we need is a true safety net 
that would embrace all farmers, avoid incentives to overproduce 
commodities when market signals do not exist, and lower costs for 
taxpayers.
  On my farm in Marion County, IN, we have 604 acres of corn, soybeans, 
and trees. This farm currently qualifies and receives direct payments 
as well as counter-cyclical and loan deficiency payments when prices 
dictate. Under this new plan we would continue to receive these 
payments for one year. After that year the farm will receive direct 
payments that decline over the next 5 years, and most of those payments 
would be deposited in an individual risk management account held in 
conjunction with the Secretary of Agriculture at a lending institution 
of our choice. We would be able to use funds from this risk management 
account to purchase crop or revenue insurance, to invest in enterprises 
that add value to the crops we produce, or to cover losses not covered 
by crop or revenue insurance compared to the 5 year revenue average of 
our operation. This legislation would also provide incentives for 
employing environmentally responsible farming techniques and other 
conservation practices.
  In addition to being a more market oriented approach, the plan also 
has the added advantage of saving Federal resources, which will be 
invested in conservation activities, domestic and international 
nutrition programs, bioenergy research and deployment, and deficit 
reduction.
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