The U.S. Senate is expected to conduct a – cloture vote – today on the next farm bill. The vote would test the strength of the bill’s mostly Southern opponents and get the ball rolling on negotiations.  Negotiations could take up most of June.

The most controversial feature is a revamp of the crop subsidy system; 5-billion dollars  annually in direct payments to farmers would be replaced with a bolstered federal crop insurance system and a new “shallow loss” program that pays farmers for sustained annual losses on what they grow.

Southerners say the new system would hurt cotton and peanut farmers more than the wheat, corn and soybean farmers For urban America, the most controversial feature is a 23-billion dollar cut in food stamps during the next decade.