IB 
Union Calendar No. 572 
110TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6849 
[Report No. 110–881] 
To amend the commodity provisions of the Food, Conservation, and Energy 
Act of 2008 to permit producers to aggregate base acres and reconstitute 
farms to avoid the prohibition on receiving direct payments, counter- 
cyclical payments, or average crop revenue election payments when the 
sum of the base acres of a farm is 10 acres or less, and for other 
purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 9, 2008 
Mr. ETHERIDGE (for himself and Mr. MORAN of Kansas) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture 
SEPTEMBER 24, 2008 
Additional sponsors: Mr. HOLDEN, Mr. HAYES, Mr. SHULER, Mr. BISHOP of 
Georgia, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Mr. MCINTYRE, Mr. BUTTERFIELD, Mr. 
CHILDERS, Mr. JOHNSON of Illinois, Mr. WALZ of Minnesota, Mr. 
MAHONEY of Florida, Mr. BOSWELL, Mrs. BOYDA of Kansas, Mr. KUHL 
of New York, Mr. KAGEN, Mr. BARROW, Mr. SKELTON, Mr. LOEBSACK, 
Mr. GOODLATTE, Mr. SHIMKUS, Mr. PETERSON of Minnesota, Mr. 
LATTA, Mr. WHITFIELD of Kentucky, Mr. LINCOLN DAVIS of Tennessee, 
Mr. SPACE, Mr. PRICE of North Carolina, Mr. MCHENRY, Mr. ROGERS 
of Alabama, Mr. ELLSWORTH, Mr. TERRY, Mr. LUCAS, Mrs. MILLER of 
Michigan, Mr. LAHOOD, Mrs. MYRICK, Mr. JONES of North Carolina, 
Mr. KING of Iowa, Mr. SCOTT of Georgia, Mr. COURTNEY, Mr. DAVIS 
of Kentucky, Mr. ROSS, Mr. BOUSTANY, Mr. CUELLAR, Mr. HARE, Mr. 
EVERETT, Mr. CHANDLER, Mr. DONNELLY, Mr. SPRATT, Mr. WALBERG, 
Mr. CRAMER, Mr. TIAHRT, Mr. BRALEY of Iowa, Mr. ARCURI, Mr. 
GRAVES, Mr. ADERHOLT, Mr. POMEROY, Mr. CARNAHAN, Mr. HILL, Mr. 
SOUDER, Mr. HALL of New York, and Mr. LEWIS of Kentucky 
SEPTEMBER 24, 2008 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 
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[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 
A BILL 
To amend the commodity provisions of the Food, Conserva-
tion, and Energy Act of 2008 to permit producers to 
aggregate base acres and reconstitute farms to avoid 
the prohibition on receiving direct payments, counter- 
cyclical payments, or average crop revenue election pay-
ments when the sum of the base acres of a farm is 
10 acres or less, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. AGGREGATION OF BASE ACRES AND RECON-
STITUTION
OF
FARMS
TO
ENSURE
ELIGI-
BILITY FOR DIRECT PAYMENTS, COUNTER- 
CYCLICAL
PAYMENTS,
OR
AVERAGE
CROP 
REVENUE ELECTION PAYMENTS. 
Section 1101(d) of the Food, Conservation, and En-
ergy Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 8711(d)) is amended— 
(1) by striking paragraph (2); 
(2) by redesignating paragraph (3) as para-
graph (4); and 
(3) by inserting after paragraph (1) the fol-
lowing new paragraphs: 
‘‘(2) EXCEPTIONS.—Paragraph (1) shall not 
apply— 
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‘‘(A) to a farm owned by a socially dis-
advantaged farmer or rancher (as defined in 
section 355(e) of the Consolidated Farm and 
Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 2003(e))); 
‘‘(B) to a farm owned by a limited re-
source farmer or rancher, as defined by the 
Secretary; or 
‘‘(C) when the aggregate total base acres 
of all farms of a producer are greater than 10 
acres, including farms— 
‘‘(i) owned by a producer; and 
‘‘(ii) operated by a producer with the 
concurrence of the owners of the farm, in-
cluding farms operated under a crop-share 
lease arrangement. 
‘‘(3) RECONSTITUTIONS.—In addition to other 
actions the Secretary determines appropriate, the 
Secretary shall permit a producer to reconstitute any 
farms of the producer covered under paragraph 
(2)(C) to exceed the 10 base acre minimum de-
scribed in paragraph (1) through consolidation of 
the base acreage of the farms.’’. 
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SECTION 1. TEMPORARY SUSPENSION OF CERTAIN LIMITA-
TIONS ON ELIGIBILITY OF PRODUCERS FOR 
DIRECT PAYMENTS, COUNTER-CYCLICAL PAY-
MENTS, OR AVERAGE CROP REVENUE ELEC-
TION PAYMENTS. 
(a) SPECIAL
RULE
FOR
2008 AND
2009 CROP 
YEARS.—Section 1101(d) of the Food, Conservation, and 
Energy Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 8711(d)) is amended by add-
ing at the end the following new paragraph: 
‘‘(4) SUSPENSION.—Paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) 
shall not apply during the 2008 and 2009 crop 
years.’’. 
(b) OFFSETTING REDUCTION.—Section 515(k)(1) of 
the Federal Crop Insurance Act (7 U.S.C. 1515(k)(1)) is 
amended by striking ‘‘not more than $15,000,000 for each 
of fiscal years 2008 through 2011’’ and inserting ‘‘not more 
than $15,000,000 for fiscal year 2008, not more than 
$9,000,000 for fiscal year 2009, and not more than 
$8,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2010 and 2011’’. 
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Union Calendar No. 572 
110TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6849 
[Report No. 110–881] 
A BILL 
To amend the commodity provisions of the Food, 
Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 to permit 
producers to aggregate base acres and reconsti-
tute farms to avoid the prohibition on receiving 
direct payments, counter-cyclical payments, or 
average crop revenue election payments when the 
sum of the base acres of a farm is 10 acres or 
less, and for other purposes. 
SEPTEMBER 24, 2008 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Com-
mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 
and ordered to be printed 
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