Don't bet on the weather

摘要

A central feature of the 1995 farm bill debate will be whether to end annual acreage idling programs. Before that debate swings into high gear, however, there is a more immediate supply management decision to make: whether to free U.S. corn farmers from their current obligation to idle 7.5 percent of their corn acres in 1995 in order to be eligible for federal farm benefits. It makes sense to lift this land-idling requirement. U.S. farmers should be free to plant all their corn acres because the world needs their production and farmers need the extra income that production will generate.