Farm Group Opposes Bid to Rewrite U.S. Program

The nation’s largest organization of family farmers directed its lobbyists Wednesday to oppose any effort in Congress to rewrite the nation’s year-old farm program.

The decision by delegates to the American Farm Bureau Federation’s annual meeting in Anaheim reflected the organization’s support of the federal agriculture program’s effort to cut growers’ reliance on government aid.

It also was a rebuff to the calls by some smaller farm groups and their supporters in Congress for production controls and other government measures to boost crop prices.

In fact, the only revision to the Food Security Act of 1985 endorsed by the federation was a Reagan Administration proposal to slash farm subsidies by 30%, instead of the currently scheduled 10%, over the next three years.

The federation, in a policy statement supporting the five-year farm program, said it strongly opposed “any type of mandatory production, acreage control or marketing quotas.”

Production controls are supported by such rival farm organizations as the 250,000-member National Farmers Union and the 150,000-member American Agricultural Movement. They also are contained in legislation proposed by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Rep. Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.).

The federation, however, has endorsed various efforts to hold down federal farm spending. In that regard, it rejected proposals by the Reagan Administration and Sen. David L. Boren (D-Okla.) to provide subsidies to farmers who quit growing certain surplus commodities, taking the position that the plan would prove costly.

Administration officials have said such a program would save money by relieving government of the costly burden of buying and storing surplus crops.