Some farm subsidies appear on the way out

The subsidies in question are direct payments to farmers whether they grow a crop or not. The Congress appears to be moving toward ending the program, replacing it with far cheaper subsidies for crop insurance.
Washington Post:

The Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee last month approved a bill that would save $23 billion over the next decade by ending direct payments and consolidating other programs. The bill would strengthen the subsidized crop insurance program and create a program to compensate farmers for smaller, or "shallow," revenue losses, based on a five-year average, for acres actually planted.
Getting a bill to the president's desk will be a challenge. Most of the bill's spending is on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or food stamps, at an annual cost now of about $75 billion. The Republican-led House is looking for greater cuts to this program than the Democratic Senate will accept.
The House also is more sympathetic to Southern rice and peanut farmers who say that shallow loss program hurts them. They want to keep some form of target price subsidy.
The current farm bill expires at the end of September.

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2012/06/some_farm_subsidies_appear_on_the_way_out.html#ixzz1wjZprGg0