Policy concerns of midwestern grain producers for the 2012 farm bill

Policy concerns of Midwestern producers directly reflect the region's heavy reliance on corn, soybeans, and wheat production. Crop insurance plays a significant role in providing a safety net, with revenue insurance products at high coverage levels being the predominant crop insurance choice. Midwestern farm groups have championed an increasing emphasis on providing a revenue-based safety net. Fixed direct payments do not vary with prices or yields and are made based on legislatively fixed rates applied to historical acreage allocations and crop yields. Benefits of direct payments include the ease of administering the program, the certainty of budgeted amounts, and their green box status with the World Trade Organization. Historical ACRE payments for each farm yield observation were calculated using the same methodology as in the previous section, incorporating the farm-level trigger rules to determine eligibility for the payment triggered at the aggregate levels.