HR 2792 IH

To require the Secretary of Agriculture to make supplemental income payments to producers of certain crops for crop years in which the national gross revenue of the crop is below a certain percentage of the 5-year average of that crop's national gross revenue.

To require the Secretary of Agriculture to make supplemental income payments to producers of certain crops for crop years in which the national gross revenue of the crop is below a certain percentage of the 5-year average of that crop's national gross revenue.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `Supplemental Income Payments for Farmers Act'.

SEC. 2. SUPPLEMENTAL INCOME PAYMENTS FOR PRODUCERS OF CERTAIN AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES WITH REDUCED NATIONAL GROSS REVENUES.

(a) DEFINITIONS- In this section:

(1) ELIGIBLE COMMODITY- The term `eligible commodity' means wheat, oilseeds, feed grains, cotton, and rice.

(2) NATIONAL GROSS REVENUE- The term `national gross revenue', with respect to an eligible commodity for a crop year, means the product obtained by the Secretary of Agriculture by multiplying--

(A) the total United States production of the eligible commodity for that crop year; and

(B) the higher of the season average price received by producers or the loan rate in effect for the eligible commodity for that crop year under subtitle C of title I of the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (7 U.S.C. 7231 et seq.).

(b) AVAILABILITY OF PAYMENTS- The Secretary of Agriculture shall make payments under this section to producers of an eligible commodity for each crop year for which the Secretary determines that the national gross revenue per acre of the eligible commodity is less than 95 percent of the 5-year average of the national gross revenue per acre of that commodity.

(c) TOTAL PAYMENTS FOR COMMODITY- If payments are required under subsection (b) to be made to producers of an eligible commodity for a crop year, the total amount of the payments to be made to all producers of that commodity shall be equal to the product obtained by multiplying--

(1) the amount per acre by which the national gross revenue for that crop year, as determined under subsection (b), is less than 95 percent of the 5-year average of the national gross revenue; and

(2) the total number of acres for that crop year on which the commodity was harvested.

(d) PAYMENT RATE AND PAYMENTS TO A PRODUCER-

(1) PAYMENT RATE- The Secretary of Agriculture shall convert the total amount payable for an eligible commodity for a crop year, as determined under subsection (c), to a per bushel or other per unit amount by dividing the amount determined under subsection (c) by the total actual and failed production for the commodity for that year.

(2) PRODUCER PAYMENT- A producer of an eligible commodity for which payments are to be made under this section shall receive a payment for the producer's actual or failed production at the payment rate in effect for the commodity for that crop year, with a reasonable allowance for errors. The Secretary shall determine actual and failed production amounts and the Secretary's determinations of such amounts shall not be subject to review.

(e) EFFECTIVE DATE- This section shall apply to eligible commodities beginning with the 1999 crop year.

(f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS- There is authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of Agriculture for fiscal years 2000 through 2004 such sums as may be necessary to carry out this section.