The Freedom to Farm Act

U.S. Rep. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), Chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture, has introduced a leading contender in the 1995 farm bill debate. Under the Freedom to Farm Act (FFA), farmers who have participated in farm programs during three of the past five years would be eligible to enter into a sevenyear contract with the federal government. Through these contracts, farmers would receive an annual payment based on a percentage of their historical (1990-95) Commodity Credit Corp. payments. Farmers under contract would be required to maintain conservation compliance plans in order to receive payments. The Acreage Reduction Program (ARP) and other short-term, landretirement programs would be eliminated, as would all crop-specific bases. The FFA o ffers a complete decoupling of federal payments and farm production decisions. Farmers receive payments unrelated to c u r rent production decisions and determine their own crop mixes. Land pre v i o u s l y reserved from base crop production under 050/85 and A R P would be released for pro d u ction or other uses. The decision to plant or leave these lands idle would depend on market returns. P re v i o u s l y, a producer received a payment for idling land under 0-50/85. Under FFA , p roducers will earn only the income generated on this cropland through production. However, the concept of a payment per acre is really one of perception. If payments are not truly decoupled, producers may see FFA contract The Freedom to Farm Act