U.S. FARM POLICY DEBATE COULD HIT SENATE SOON

  The Senate this week might take up
  proposed legislation that could serve as a lightning rod to
  expose broad initiatives to change U.S. farm policy.
      The Senate could consider a House-passed bill that would
  allow wheat and feedgrains farmers to receive at least 92 pct
  of their income support payments if flooding last year
  prevented, or will prevent, them from planting their 1987
  crops, Senate staff members told Reuters.
      Also pending is a bill extend the life of the National
  Commission on Dairy Policy.
      Sen. Rudy Boschwitz, R-Minn., intends to offer an amendment
  to one of the bills that would suspend the minimum planting
  requirement for all 1987 wheat, feedgrain, cotton and rice
  producers, an aide said.
      Under current law, producers must plant at least 50 pct of
  their base acreage to be eligible for 92 pct of their
  deficiency payments.
      Most major U.S. farm groups have lobbied hard against
  making any fundamental changes in the 1985 farm bill out of
  fear a full-scale debate could expose agricultural problems to
  budget-cutting pressures.
      Representatives of these farm groups have said they also
  fear efforts by Midwestern Democrats to force a floor vote on a
  bill that would require large acreage set-asides in return for
  sharply higher support prices.
      However, Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, sponsor of the bill, told
  Reuters he did not intend to offer his measure as a floor
  amendment but to bring it through the committee.
  

