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Farm Bill Payments Exceed Projections

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Flickr, creative commons

Some Midwest crop farmers are receiving their first government payments under the new farm bill enacted last year. As Harvest Public Media’s Amy Mayer reports, taxpayers are spending more than projected.

With the new farm bill, farmers choose a safety-net program—one based on average yield or on crop prices.

Lawmakers hoped the new programs would save money. But University of Illinois economist Gary Schnitkey says the program’s actually costing more this year than the system it replaced.

"It’s going to be over $6 billion," Schnitkey says. "And as we move through time those payments likely will come down in future years."

Schnitkey says the billions of dollars in savings projected when the law was passed last year could still be achieved over its five-year lifespan.

Amy Mayer is a reporter based in Ames. She covers agriculture and is part of the Harvest Public Media collaboration. Amy worked as an independent producer for many years and also previously had stints as weekend news host and reporter at WFCR in Amherst, Massachusetts and as a reporter and host/producer of a weekly call-in health show at KUAC in Fairbanks, Alaska. Amy’s work has earned awards from SPJ, the Alaska Press Club and the Massachusetts/Rhode Island AP. Her stories have aired on NPR news programs such as Morning Edition, All Things Considered and Weekend Edition and on Only A Game, Marketplace and Living on Earth. She produced the 2011 documentary Peace Corps Voices, which aired in over 160 communities across the country and has written for The New York Times, Boston Globe, Real Simple and other print outlets. Amy served on the board of directors of the Association of Independents in Radio from 2008-2015.