U.S. HOUSE TARGETING PROPOSAL SPARKS INTEREST

  A proposal by two U.S. House
  Democrats to target government farm benefits to small- and
  medium-sized farms was warmly received by Democrats on a
  House subcommittee today.
      "On balance, this is the best new idea I have seen," said
  Rep. Dan Glickman (D-Kan.), Chairman of the House Agriculture
  Subcommittee on Wheat, Feedgrains and Soybeans. "This is the
  first hard constructive proposal coming out as an alternative
  to the (Reagan) administration's farm proposal."
      The plan, offered by Reps. Tim Penny (D-Minn.) and Byron
  Dorgan (D-ND), would raise target prices for wheat to 5.00 dlrs
  per bushel and for corn to 3.50 dlrs. Producers could receive
  deficiency payments on up to 80 pct of normal yield but not
  more than on 30,000 bu of corn and 20,000 bu of wheat.
      The proposal also would require acreage reductions of 20
  pct, eliminate generic certificates and prohibit persons not
  actively engaged in farming from receiving program benefits.
      Dorgan said the bill would save 24 billion dlrs over five
  years, protect family farms and eliminate government
  accumulation of stocks because nonrecourse loans would be
  halted.
      However, Rep. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) said the measure would
  "involve the federal government in deciding and defining who a
  family farmer is."
      Roberts said the bill, for example, would restrict program
  payments to 500 acres of wheat production in western Kansas.
      Other Republicans on the panel questioned how the bill
  would determine if a person was actively engaged in farming and
  therefore eligible for payments.
  

