support Klobuchar Adjusted gross income (agi) amendment

The Klobuchar amendment would ensure that commodity program payments go to working farmers and ranchers rather than the wealthy. The amendment limits payments to those with an Adjusted Gross Income of less than $750,000—even less if that income is not from farming. AFT supports this reasonable proposal to reform subsidies. 

The Klobuchar amendment:

1. Limits eligibility for commodity program payments to those farmers or ranchers earning less than $750,000 in Adjusted Gross Income (AGI). This is after all expenses have been deducted, so it is income, NOT gross revenue. (In current law, the limit is $2.5 million). Like current law, the proposed AGI is based on an average of the past three years.
2. Further limits eligibility for commodity payments for landowners that have most of their earnings from non-farm sources. In this case, any person, married couple, or entity with an AGI over $250,000 would not be able to receive farm program payments unless at least two-thirds of that income is from farming or ranching. 
3. Would not change current law for payments under conservation programs.
4. Uses the money saved from this proposal for more important purposes.  These include programs to aid beginning farmers and ranchers, nutrition feeding programs, organic agriculture, grassland reserve program and promotion of energy efficiency and renewable energy development for agricultural producers and cooperatives.

The Lincoln amendment:

Senator Lincoln has proposed a change to the Klobuchar amendment that would limit eligibility for all conservation programs as well as commodity programs. AFT strongly opposes the Lincoln amendment. Unlike commodity payments, conservation payments (e.g., cost-share, land retirement, or farmland protection programs) are not subsidies. Instead, these payments compensate land owners for providing environmental and other benefits to the public.

Conservation dollars are used by working land-owners to install buffer strips that clean the water, protect farmland in the face of urban sprawl, help ensure local food, and restore grasslands that expands wildlife habitat. Without federal matching funds, many of these projects would not be implemented.

Putting limits on who is eligible for conservation program payments would reduce the amount of conservation implemented on the ground and result in a loss of public benefits.  Limiting eligibility of commodity subsidies to working land operators is vastly different than limiting the amount of federal assistance for conservation projects.

The bottom line: AFT supports the Klobuchar amendment that would make important improvements to the farm bill, but opposes the Lincoln amendment that would undermine conservation benefits.