Southern lawmakers worry farm bill unfair to peanut, rice growers
Jackie Loewer, a third-generation rice farmer in Mowata, is all but certain the federal subsidies he and other farmers in the South have counted on for years are about to disappear.
“What we’re trying to do is take what’s left and have it available to use to support the rice industry,’’ said Loewer, whose family farm, Loewer Brothers, grows rice on 1,400 acres northwest of Lafayette.
The next farm bill is widely expected to eliminate the $5 billion a year farm landowners have received in direct payments. Most farmers accept that as a reality in tough economic times.
But Loewer and others, including congressional lawmakers from the South, worry rice and peanut farmers won’t get their fair share of whatever other farm aid survives the budget axe.
The News Star
6/10/12
Magnolia Tribune
