FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, November 3, 2005

Isakson Praises Senate Decision To Reject Lower Farm Payments
Action Could Have Bankrupted Many Georgia Farmers

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) today praised the Senate’s rejection of an amendment that would have lowered the federal crop payments that were established in the 2002 farm bill.

“We had this debate in 2002, and we passed a carefully crafted farm bill that established fair crop payment limits,” Isakson said. “We debated farm payment limits extensively at that time, and it’s absolutely wrong to seek to change those now in mid-stream.”

In a speech on the Senate floor, Isakson condemned the amendment because it would lower direct federal crop payments to eligible producers from $40,000 to $20,000 and lower counter-cyclical payments from $65,000 to $30,000. A vote on the amendment failed 46 to 53

Lower payment limits would have adversely affected many farms in Georgia and across the South, because Southern farmers tend to have larger, more costly farming operations than farmers in other parts of the country. Larger farm operations such as those in the South can reach one or more of the payment limits with fewer acres than smaller farms.

“Our farmers have made business decisions based on that 2002 farm bill. They’ve made significant investments based on that farm bill,” Isakson said. “Make no mistake, passage of this amendment would have resulted in many traditional family farms going out of business.”

Changes in limitations or eligibility would have undermined the objectives of the legislators to provide a stable and predictable farm policy through the 2007 crop. It is estimated that $30,189,620 would have been lost to Georgia farmers under lower payment restrictions, affecting 30 percent of Georgia farmers.

Today’s amendment was part of the Deficit Reduction Act, which will result in savings of $39.1 billion over five years and $109 billion over ten years to reduce the federal deficit.

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