I 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5978 

To amend the Food Security Act of 1985 to provide for certain payment 

limitations with respect to commodity programs, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 25, 2018 

Mr. MEADOWS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Agriculture 

A BILL 

To amend the Food Security Act of 1985 to provide for 

certain payment limitations with respect to commodity 

programs, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Farm Support Integ5 rity for Family Farms Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PAYMENT LIMITATIONS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1001 of the Food Security 

8 Act of 1985 (7 U.S.C. 1308) is amended— 

9 (1) in subsection (a), by striking paragraph (3) 

10 and inserting the following: 


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1 ‘‘(3) LEGAL ENTITY.—The term ‘legal entity’ 

2 means— 

3 ‘‘(A) an organization that (subject to the 

4 requirements of this section and section 1001A) 

5 is eligible to receive a payment under a provi6 sion of law referred to in subsection (b) or (d); 

7 and 

8 ‘‘(B) an association, charitable organiza9 tion, corporation, estate, general partnership, 

10 irrevocable trust or grantor of a revocable trust, 

11 joint stock company, limited partnership, lim12 ited liability company, limited liability partner13 ship, or other similar entity (as determined by 

14 the Secretary).’’; 

15 (2) by striking subsections (b) and (c) and in16 serting the following: 

17 ‘‘(b) LIMITATION ON PAYMENTS FOR COVERED COM18 MODITIES AND PEANUTS.—The total amount of payments 

19 received, directly or indirectly, by a person or legal entity 

20 for any crop year for 1 or more covered commodities and 

21 peanuts under title I of the Agricultural Act of 2014 may 

22 not exceed $125,000, of which not more than $50,000 

23 may consist of payments made under sections 1116 and 

24 1117 of such Act. 

25 ‘‘(c) SPOUSAL EQUITY.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding subsection 

2 (b), except as provided in paragraph (2), if a person 

3 and the spouse of the person are covered by para4 graph (2) and receive, directly or indirectly, any pay5 ment or gain covered by this section, the total 

6 amount of payments or gains (as applicable) covered 

7 by this section that the person and spouse may 

8 jointly receive during any crop year may not exceed 

9 an amount equal to twice the applicable dollar 

10 amounts specified in subsection (b). 

11 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTIONS.— 

12 ‘‘(A) SEPARATE FARMING OPERATIONS.— 

13 In the case of a married couple in which each 

14 spouse, before the marriage, was separately en15 gaged in an unrelated farming operation, each 

16 spouse shall be treated as a separate person 

17 with respect to a farming operation brought 

18 into the marriage by a spouse, subject to the 

19 condition that the farming operation shall re20 main a separate farming operation, as deter21 mined by the Secretary. 

22 ‘‘(B) ELECTION TO RECEIVE SEPARATE

23 PAYMENTS.—A married couple may elect to re24 ceive payments separately in the name of each 

25 spouse if the total amount of payments and 


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1 benefits described in subsection (b) that the 

2 married couple receives, directly or indirectly, 

3 does not exceed an amount equal to twice the 

4 applicable dollar amounts specified in such sub5 section.’’; 

6 (3) in subsection (e)(3)— 

7 (A) by striking ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—’’; and 

8 (B) by striking subparagraph (B); 

9 (4) in subsection (f)— 

10 (A) in paragraph (3)(B), by adding at the 

11 end the following new clause: 

12 ‘‘(iii) LEGITIMATE ENTITIES.—In pro13 mulgating regulations to define the term 

14 ‘legal entity’ as the term applies to irrev15 ocable trusts, the Secretary shall ensure 

16 that irrevocable trusts are legitimate enti17 ties that have not been created for the pur18 pose of avoiding a payment limitation.’’; 

19 and 

20 (B) by striking paragraph (4) and redesig21 nating paragraphs (5), (6), (7), and (8) as 

22 paragraphs (4), (5), (6), and (7), respectively; 

23 and 


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1 (5) in subsection (h), in the second sentence, by 

2 striking ‘‘or other entity’’ and inserting ‘‘or legal en3 tity’’. 

4 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

5 (1) Section 1001 of the Food Security Act of 

6 1985 (7 U.S.C. 1308) is amended— 

7 (A) in subsection (e)(1), by striking ‘‘sub8 sections (b) and (c)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection 

9 (b)’’; 

10 (B) in subsection (f)(2), by striking ‘‘Sub11 sections (b) and (c)’’ and inserting ‘‘Subsection 

12 (b)’’; and 

13 (C) in subsection (g)— 

14 (i) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘sub15 section (b) or (c)’’ and inserting ‘‘sub16 section (b)’’; and 

17 (ii) in paragraph (2)(A), by striking 

18 ‘‘subsections (b) and (c)’’ and inserting 

19 ‘‘subsection (b)’’. 

20 (2) Section 1001A of the Food Security Act of 

21 1985 (7 U.S.C. 1308–1) is amended— 

22 (A) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘sub23 sections (b) and (c) of section 1001’’ and in24 serting ‘‘section 1001(b)’’; and 


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1 (B) in subsection (b)(1), by striking ‘‘sub2 section (b) or (c) of section 1001’’ and inserting 

3 ‘‘section 1001(b)’’. 

4 (3) Section 1001B(a) of the Food Security Act 

5 of 1985 (7 U.S.C. 1308–2(a)) is amended in the 

6 matter preceding paragraph (1) by striking ‘‘sub7 sections (b) and (c) of section 1001’’ and inserting 

8 ‘‘section 1001(b)’’. 

9 (c) APPLICATION.—The amendments made by this 

10 section shall apply beginning with the 2019 crop year. 

11 SEC. 3. PAYMENTS LIMITED TO ACTIVE FARMERS. 

12 Section 1001A of the Food Security Act of 1985 (7 

13 U.S.C. 1308–1) is amended— 

14 (1) in subsection (b)(2)— 

15 (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘(in16 cluding a person participating in a farming op17 eration as a partner in a general partnership, a 

18 participant in a joint venture, a grantor of a 

19 revocable trust, or a participant in a similar en20 tity, as determined by the Secretary)’’; 

21 (B) in subparagraph (A)(i)(II), by striking 

22 ‘‘or active personal management’’; 

23 (C) in subparagraph (B)— 

24 (i) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘or active 

25 personal management’’; and 


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1 (ii) in clause (iii), by inserting ‘‘and’’ 

2 after the semicolon; and 

3 (D) by striking subparagraph (C) and re4 designating subparagraph (D) as subparagraph 

5 (C); and 

6 (2) in subsection (c)— 

7 (A) in paragraph (1)— 

8 (i) by striking subparagraph (A) and 

9 inserting the following: 

10 ‘‘(A) the landowner share-rents the land at 

11 a rate that is usual and customary or receives 

12 rent or income based on the operating results of 

13 the operation;’’; 

14 (ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 

15 the period at the end and inserting ‘‘; 

16 and’’; and 

17 (iii) by adding at the end the fol18 lowing: 

19 ‘‘(C) the share of the payments received by 

20 the landowner is commensurate with the share 

21 of the crop or income received as rent.’’; 

22 (B) in paragraph (2)(A), by striking ‘‘ac23 tive personal management or’’; 

24 (C) in paragraph (5)— 


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1 (i) by striking ‘‘(5)’’ and all that fol2 lows through ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A per3 son’’ and inserting the following: 

4 ‘‘(5) CUSTOM FARMING SERVICES.—A person’’; 

5 (ii) by inserting ‘‘under usual and 

6 customary terms’’ after ‘‘services’’; and 

7 (iii) by striking subparagraph (B); 

8 and 

9 (D) by adding at the end the following: 

10 ‘‘(7) FARM MANAGERS.—A person who other11 wise meets the requirements of this subsection other 

12 than (b)(2)(A)(i)(II) shall be considered to be ac13 tively engaged in farming, as determined by the Sec14 retary, with respect to the farming operation, includ15 ing a farming operation that is a sole proprietorship, 

16 a legal entity such as a joint venture or general 

17 partnership, or a legal entity such as a corporation 

18 or limited partnership, if the person— 

19 ‘‘(A) makes a significant contribution of 

20 management to the farming operation that— 

21 ‘‘(i) is critical to the profitability of 

22 the farming operation; 

23 ‘‘(ii) is performed on a regular, con24 tinuous, and substantial basis; and 


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1 ‘‘(iii) equals at least 520 hours annu2 ally, or at least 25 percent of the total 

3 management hours required for the farm4 ing operation on an annual basis, as deter5 mined by the Secretary; 

6 ‘‘(B)(i) is the only person in the farming 

7 operation qualifying as actively engaged in 

8 farming by using the farm manager special 

9 class designation under this paragraph; and 

10 ‘‘(ii) together with any other persons in the 

11 farming operation qualifying as actively en12 gaged in farming under subsection (b)(2) or as 

13 part of a special class under this subsection, 

14 does not collectively receive, directly or indi15 rectly, an amount equal to more than the appli16 cable limits under section 1001(b); 

17 ‘‘(C) does not use the management con18 tribution under this paragraph to qualify as ac19 tively engaged in more than 1 farming oper20 ation; and 

21 ‘‘(D) manages a farm operation that does 

22 not substantially share equipment, labor, or 

23 management with persons or legal entities that 

24 with the person collectively receive, directly or 


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1 indirectly, an amount equal to more than the 

2 applicable limits under section 1001(b).’’. 

3 SEC. 4. REPEAL OF CERTAIN REGULATIONS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1604 of the Agricultural 

5 Act of 2014 (7 U.S.C. 1308–1 note) is repealed. 

6 (b) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary of Agriculture 

7 shall issue or revise such regulations as may be necessary 

8 to implement the amendments made by sections 2 and 3. 

Æ 


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