By Matt Sepic, KWMU
St. Louis, MO. – U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns praised this year's Farm Bill
during a visit to St. Louis Thursday.
The wide-ranging legislation proposes spending more than 90 billion dollars on everything from crop subsidies to food stamps.
Johanns spoke at the World Agricultural Forum, which ended Thursday.
He said subsidies in this year's farm bill are more market driven, but commodity prices have been so high lately that direct payments to farmers are down.
"Farmers are simply receiving less because they are getting their income from the marketplace," Johanns said. "Needless to say, we support that too. We want them to farm for the market, not for a government program."
The farm bill is revised every five years.
However critics of this year's version say it focuses too much on helping big agribusiness, and too little on feeding the hungry.