Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 6/12/18

Sen. Chuck Grassley on Monday spoke to a friendly audience during a Heritage Foundation discussion on reducing farm subsidies. The Iowa Republican highlighted several amendments that may be offered to the Senate farm bill either during the Agriculture Committee markup on Wednesday or when the measure is debated on the floor later this month.

"I believe in a safety net for all farmers. It should provide temporary assistance when natural disasters strike or there are sudden changes in markets," Grassley said Monday. But, he added, an estimated 10 percent of farmers receive more than 70 percent of commodity payments, in part because "current farm policy offers farmers unlimited subsidies if they hire the right lawyer."

Sugar debate resurfaces: Aside from his amendment aimed at cutting off non-farmers from receiving commodity subsidies, Grassley said he would vote for an effort to overhaul U.S. sugar policy — a complex system of price supports, import quotas and domestic production controls. And he said he'd help build support for another proposal by Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) that would change Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage programs.

ARC and PLC trigger payments when crop revenue or prices drop below certain levels, respectively. The Thune-Brown plan would cap PLC reference prices at their 10-year market average and change the formula for calculating ARC subsidies in a way that boosts them primarily for the Midwestern corn and soybean farmers who enrolled.

Senate Agriculture Chairman Pat Roberts on Monday briefly responded to questions about the prospect of controversial farm subsidy proposals, saying, "I don't want an amendment to blow up the process."