Farm Programs: Distribution of USDA Income Support Payments (Testimony,
03/16/95, GAO/T-RCED-95-133).

The Agriculture Department's income support payments, commonly referred
to as deficiency payments, are intended to protect farmers' incomes when
crop prices fall below set prices.  GAO testified that payments to
individual farms ranged from less than $100 to nearly $1.8 million.
Most farms collected comparatively small amounts--about 75 percent of
the 989,000 farms received payments of $5,000 or less.  In contrast,
fewer than one percent of the farms received payments of more than
$100,000.  Deficiency payments to farms averaged about $5,500.  Average
payments varied between commodities, with payments for rice and cotton
among the largest at $31,200 and $10,300, respectively.  Deficiency
payments are concentrated among relatively few farms.  Overall, about 54
percent of the payments went to about 10 percent of the farms.

--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------

 REPORTNUM:  T-RCED-95-133
     TITLE:  Farm Programs: Distribution of USDA Income Support Payments
      DATE:  03/16/95
   SUBJECT:  Farm income stabilization programs
             Agricultural industry
             Payments
             Farm subsidies
             Agricultural policies
             Agricultural programs
             Agricultural products
             Grain and grain products
IDENTIFIER:  USDA Commodity Price Support Program
             
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