The National Corn Growers Association has resolved to look into shifting direct payments from the federal government into programs that provide a safety net for farmers.

The resolution, passed Saturday at the Commodity Classic in Tampa, Fla., reads "NCGA should investigate transitioning direct payments into programs that allow producers the ability to manage risk while assuring food security."

The farm bill, which among other things encompasses disaster, conservation and direct payments to farmers, expires in 2012.

Direct payments have become the most controversial and politically vulnerable segment of federal assistance to farmers.

"We're trying to be flexible," Iowa Corn Growers Association President Dean Taylor of Prairie City said. "We recognize that when corn prices are high, people are less willing to spend money on farm programs."

The Iowa Farm Bureau Federation last fall voted to recommend ending direct payments and shifting the money into stronger crop and disaster insurance programs. But the Iowa resolution failed to be adopted by the national convention in January, primarily because of opposition by Southern cotton and rice farmers.

The Obama administration has recommended cutting off direct payments, which in 2009 amounted to about $500 million in Iowa, to farmers with more than $500,000 a year in farm income and $250,000 a year in off-farm income. The current levels are $750,000 for farm income and $500,000 for nonfarm income.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack told the House agricultural appropriations committee last month that "with farm prices as strong as they are today, we think it is appropriate to ask the most successful farmers to consider perhaps receiving a little bit less than they have been receiving."

desmoinesregister.com