Congress cultivates a revolutionary farm policy compromise

摘要

By the time lawmakers are done, many programs that have babied and bullied U.S. agriculture for more than 60 years will be unrecognizable, if intact at all. Although the debate is far from over, a congressional compromise on the federal budget is calling for historic reform of farm policies that had their start in the Depression. Recently vetoed by President Clinton, the budget package would cap and phase down farm spending over the next seven years and dismantle much of the structure of current commodity programs that try to manage supplies and manipulate prices of wheat, corn and other crops.