By Jerry Hagstrom, DTN Political Correspondent and Chris Clayton, DTN Ag Policy Editor

WASHINGTON (DTN) -- Farmers would be paid the higher calculated payment rate under Price Loss Coverage or Agricultural Risk Coverage for the 2025 crop year under the Senate Agriculture Committee's proposal for budget reconciliation.

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman, R-Ark., released his committee's proposal to include in the "One Big Beautiful Bill." Boozman's plan is similar to the House version's provision on agriculture but with some adjustments.

In the farm program section of the bill, the Senate version increases the effective reference price escalator formula under Price Loss Coverage (PLC) from 85% in the House version to 88% of the five-year Olympic moving average marketing year average price.

For the current crop year, the Senate bill has language that USDA will provide producers with the higher calculated payment rate in 2025 for Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC) or PLC. Producers would then go back to choosing which program they prefer in 2026 and beyond.

Like the House, payment limits would increase from $125,000 to $155,000 and then the payment limit would increase based on an inflation index. The bill also removes income caps for farmers or entities that draw 75% or more of their income from agriculture or forestry.

Also like the House bill, the plan has provisions that would allow USDA to enroll up to 30 million new base acres for farmers based on production history of that ground.

The bill also increases budget authority for conservation programs by more than $16 billion by rolling in conservation funds from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

Boozman initially resisted the inclusion of additional funds for programs other than the Price Loss Coverage, Agriculture Risk Coverage and crop insurance programs, but the specialty crop industry said it should be covered if the row crops were covered, a Senate Ag GOP aide said. The bill boosts research, block grants and pest and disease programs for specialty crops.

Unlike the House, the Senate Agriculture Committee will not have a markup hearing for its plans. Instead, the provisions will be added to the full Senate package for floor debate.

The text was delivered to the Senate Budget Committee. The Budget Committee will prepare it for inclusion in the larger reconciliation bill after going over it with the Senate parliamentarian in what's called a "Byrd bath" to determine if all the provisions are eligible for inclusion in a reconciliation bill.

The Byrd Rule, named for the late Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., restricts reconciliation bills to dealing with matters related to the budget.

The House version of the reconciliation bill, known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, would cut $294 billion from nutrition over 10 years and provide an additional $60 billion for farm programs.

The Senate plan cuts $211 billion from nutrition over 10 years and would provide an additional $67 billion for farm programs.

When it comes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the Senate Ag provisions would still shift some funding over to states, including cutting the federal government's share of administrative costs from 50% to 25% starting in FY 2027.

States would also pay anywhere from zero to 15% of SNAP benefits depending on their payment error rates calculated by USDA. Under the House plan, states could pay as much as 25% of benefits depending on their error rates. Those state payments for error rates would start in 2028.

Arkansas, for instance, Boozman's home state, would pay 10% of all SNAP benefits under the bill if its error rate remains at 9.6%. SNAP payment error rates by states range from a low of 3.4 in Idaho to over 60% in Alaska. The national error rate average is 11.7%.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., the ranking member on the Senate Agriculture Committee, said the Republicans' proposed cuts SNAP in the budget reconciliation bill, though somewhat smaller than in the House bill, "continue to be devastating to families in need, push a major financial burden onto states, and cause farmers and independent grocers who already operate on thin margins to lose billions in revenue."

"While some changes were made to the food assistance cuts, this bill continues to include an unprecedented cost shift, forcing tens of billions of SNAP costs onto state governments for the first time," Klobuchar added.

"Because nearly every state has balanced budget rules, states will almost certainly have to cut SNAP eligibility, benefits, or both, or choose between food assistance and other critical needs, like education, health, and public safety."

Klobuchar did not directly address the bill's provisions to increase funding for several farm programs but said in the news release and in a brief interview that it's important to hold together the coalition that has passed farm bills for decades.

"Bipartisan farm bills have long been upheld by a broad coalition of farm, conservation, rural development, research, and nutrition groups. We need a farm bill that delivers for all of rural America," Klobuchar said.

Anti-hunger groups also criticized the Republican proposal.

"Both the House and Senate proposals ultimately lead to increased hunger and further economic strain on families and communities," said Eric Mitchell, president of the Alliance to End Hunger. "As with the House legislation, this utterly fails the 'do no harm' test and must be rejected."

But at a briefing for reporters on Thursday, a Senate Agriculture Committee Republican aide said, while Democrats and anti-hunger leaders have complained the SNAP cuts damage the farm bill coalition, the anti-hunger leaders have not been "good partners" because they haven't supported aid to farmers who are in "true economic distress."

The SNAP provisions would block state waivers from work requirements for able-bodied adults without dependents up to age 65, increasing the work-age requirement from age 54.

The Republican aides said the Senate version softens the SNAP cuts by not applying work requirements to parents with children under the age of 10 rather than the age of 7, as the House version does.

Farm groups support the Senate Ag proposal. NCGA and the American Soybean Association released statements in support on Thursday, as did the National Potato Council and the National Milk Producers Federation.

See, "Budget Reconciliation Bill Offers Limited Safety Net Boost for Corn and Soybean Farmers," https://www.dtnpf.com/…

Jerry Hagstrom can be reached at jhagstrom@nationaljournal.com

Follow him on social platform X @hagstromreport

Chris Clayton can be reached at Chris.Clayton@dtn.com

Follow him on social platform X @ChrisClaytonDTN

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