Marcy Kaptur: “No. The farmers have to go into the local farm service agencies anyway to sign these contracts, and that is the…”

“No. The farmers have to go into the local farm service agencies anyway to sign these contracts, and that is the procedure that will be used in this. I think maybe it is important also just to place on the record, so Members understand what is going on here, there was somewhat of an omission in the original bill when it passed the House originally in that the conference report stated that farmers were really not required to plant a crop to qualify for a farm payment. The intention of this is not to reward investors but to reward farmers and ranchers who are actually doing the work of agriculture in this country. We also recognized the need for conservation and conserving uses, and we do make exceptions in the bill for weather. We cannot control drought or flooding or serious weather situations. So we are not after changing the requirements when they go into the farm service agency. We are just wanting to make sure these transition payments are going to farmers who are actually doing the work.”