Essentially, farmers are given five-year windows to manage their money in a way that is best for their own operations. During a morning news conference to mark introduction of the bill, Grassley said the bill is a good complement to the freedom to farm program enacted in 1996. It leaves business decisions in the hands of farmers, not bureaucrats at USDA or members of Congress. The farmer decides whether to defer his income for later years. The 1996 farm bill took planting decisions out of the hands of the government and returned them to individual farmers.
Farmers now have the ability to plant according to the demands of the market.
Grassley said farmers in Iowa tell him they like this change in philosophy and say they prefer to rely on the market for income, instead of the government. Today's bill helps the farmer help himself. It's not a new government subsidy for agriculture. And it doesn't create a new bureaucracy purporting to help farmers. Grassley said that in addition to weather fluctuations, farmers are challenged by uncertainty in international markets.