Farm groups lobby for limit on subsidies

Two big farm groups are urging Iowa’s congressional delegation to keep limits where they are on subsidies for mega-farms. Gary Hoskey is president of the Iowa Farmers Union. He says family farms face their last test, and the new farm bill could be the end of them if it’s not structured right. Hoskey says family farms have a connection with the community that “mega-farms” do not. Being a farmer himself, he wants consumers to have healthy food produced by people who feel a link with them. Iowa’s two U-S senators, Chuck Grassley and Tom Harkin, support payment limitations. But senators from southern states would like subsidies to rise with the size of farms, since their farming and ranching operations are much bigger than traditional family farms in Iowa. Chuck Hassebroek with the Center for Rural Affairs says that’s why it’s important for the Iowa delegation to stick together on the issue. He says while compromise is fine on some matters, he says for the sake of family farming’s future, this is not an issue that should be traded away. A Grassley amendment to the farm bill would cap government loan payments at 150-thousand dollars for mega farms.