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Grassley makes another pitch for a farm payment cap

One of the leading proponents of capping farm program payments—Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley—says that concept makes more sense now than ever before.

Grassley says the current budget discussions should highlight changes he has proposed to put a hard cap on farm payments so wealthy farmers who don’t need the safety net don’t benefit from the program.

“If we want to spend farm money wisely, then we should make sure that it goes to those who it’s intended to help—and people that are more vulnerable, like small and medium sized farmers,” Grassley says.

Grassley proposes setting a hard cap of 250-thousand dollars in farm payments for any one farm operation.

“We shouldn’t allow the federal farm program to do what it does today—to subsidize the largest ten percent of the farmers to get even bigger,” he says, “because that ten percent of the farmers gets 70 percent of the benefits from the farm program.”

Grassley says the farm payment cap will continue to be one of his top priorities in the next farm bill debate.

AUDIO: Chuck Grassley (2:30 MP3)