Lugar faces toughs odds overhauling farm system
Indianapolis Star, October 24, 2007

WASHINGTON -- A coalition of environmentalists, taxpayer-watchdog groups, humanitarian organizations and others endorsed Tuesday a proposal by Sen. Richard Lugar to overhaul the federal farm subsidy system.

Lugar, however, does not plan to offer his bill when the Senate Agriculture Committee meets Wednesday to put together the Senate's five-year farm bill. Lugar, a former chairman of the committee, said Tuesday he knows his proposal would be defeated there.

"The floor is a different story," he said.

But even in the full Senate, Lugar's bill is expected to face significant opposition. He wants to replace the current crop subsidy system with an insurance program that would benefit all producers, not just the growers of corn, soybeans, wheat, rice and cotton who benefit now.

In addition to being cheaper than the current system, Lugar says it would also comply with world trade rules, be more equitable and free up funding for conservation and nutrition programs.

"The system is broken and desperately in need of reform," said Jim Lyons, Oxfam America's vice president for policy and communications. "Research shows that our subsidies undercut farmers and rural economies at home and abroad."

But Lugar said that groups representing those who benefit the most from the current system "have been well organized for many years to stay that way."