U.S. farm bill limits affect few growers: Reformers

By Charles Abbott

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Despite claims of reform, the $285 billion U.S. farm bill awaiting a final vote in Congress will reduce subsidies to very few growers, a coalition of groups trying to defeat the bill said on Tuesday.

The House was expected to vote on the five-year bill on Wednesday, followed by the Senate. Two-thirds of the money would go to public nutrition programs, such as food stamps.

"If this bill makes it to my desk, I will veto it," President George W. Bush said in a statement, criticizing the bill for overspending and embracing too little reform. "In the absence of a good farm bill, I call on Congress to extend current law for at least one year."

Nutrition programs would get a $10.3 billion increase in funding over 10 years under the bill. Land stewardship would get an additional $4 billion, specialty crops $1.35 billion and biofuel development $1.2 billion. Crop insurance and crop supports would be cut.

With food prices forecast to rise by 4.5 percent this year, anti-hunger groups say the bill will help poor Americans buy food. It would adjust the food stamp formula, resulting in slightly larger benefits, and increase federal donations to food pantries.

"These provisions will stop the erosion in food stamp benefit purchasing power," two anti-hunger groups and a group speaking for elderly Americans said in a letter to Congress.

A coalition of fiscal hawks, small-farm advocates and the international development group Oxfam America said the farm subsidy reforms in the bill were nearly toothless. They urged Congress to defeat the bill and try again.

"There really isn't reform in this bill," said Chuck Hassebrook of the Center for Rural Affairs.