Bob Kerrey: “For years, the principal criticism of the farm program has been an inaccurate one, but it has been an effective one…”

“For years, the principal criticism of the farm program has been an inaccurate one, but it has been an effective one, that American farmers are being paid not to farm; converting acres is a payment not to farm; farmers are going to get paid for wetlands regulation, lots of other things. They are certainly not paid not to farm. In this program, the way it is written, the law basically says that the Government will calculate the number of acres that you are eligible for based on 4, 5 years of farming using Farm Service Office numbers. The Farm Service Office will then say, ``Here is what your yields are.'' Both of them, by the way, have built in inequities because that is another problem. The Government will say, ``Here is your number of acres, your yield, multiply your numbers and take 85 percent, then add all the acreage up and all those bushels up.'' It will take the total dollars available for that crop, divide it into the total bushels, and that is how many cents you will get. And you will get half your payment in June and half in September. The only three things you have to do to get the payment is the following: First, comply with the conservation requirements; second, comply with the wetlands requirements; and, third, promise not to plant more than 15 percent alfalfa and not to plant fruits and vegetables. Other than that, you do not have to promise to do anything.”