Largest farms benefit from new Congress mandate

Who deserves farm payments? Farm payments should be reserved for family farms facing difficult times, but the government and taxpayers should not support checks without limit to the largest operations.

While enacting limits on farm payments, Congress and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have failed to close loopholes that enable the largest farms to maneuver around them.

Most farm payment programs are subject to a maximum payment, and generally farms with an adjusted gross income of more than $900,000 are ineligible.

But, under USDA rules, many farms can claim multiple maximum payments for s...