Farmers slow to sign up for alternative subsidy that would cut direct payments but might pay off

"Would-be reformers of farm programs should take note: Farmers won't easily part with the subsidies they've been getting, even if they make more money from a new program," writes Philip Brasher, Washington correspondent for The Des Moines Register. His example: lack of signups for a subsidy designed to supplant one that President Obama has tried and failed to cut, direct payments.

The new program is Average Crop Revenue Election, which Congress created "to better protect producers against losses in farm revenue, either through poor yields or steep drops in commodity prices," Brasher reports. "In return for a guaranteed floor under farm revenue that the program would provide, growers must give up a portion of their annual direct payments." As of July 7, only 1,434 of the nation's 1.8 million farms had signed up for ACRE.

Experts say some farmers are waiting to see how commodity prices behave before the Aug. 14 signup deadline. "Recent declines in corn prices makes it more likely that corn growers would get subsidies under the ACRE program," Brasher explains. Other reasons: The program is complex, signees must stay in it until 2012, and renters must get landowners' permission to enroll their acreage. And, of course, there's that 20 percent cut in direct payments. "It's giving up the direct payment that is the primary factor," Kyle Phillips, who farms near Knoxville, Iowa, told Brasher. He is "waiting to see what happens to corn prices." (Read more)