South Dakota Senator John Thune is proposing changes the farm bill commodity title for the 2018 legislation. He says he’s recommending ARC county payment acres be based on physical location.

He says another change he’s proposing is allowing base acres to be updated.

Thune says during the past two farm bills there has been some support for using planted acres for calculating commodity title payments which is bad policy. He says it also encourages farmers to plant for the highest program benefits rather than for the market. It’s also non compliant with WTO rules. Thune says the changes he’s proposing will save the government money.

Thune says farm bill committee members are also looking at some possible changes to the disaster title in the future as the farm bill process continues.