Still a lot of pork in Farm Bill proposals

This morning Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns presented the
Administration proposals for the new Farm Bill. Here’s his press
release:

Here’s the link to the proposals.

The energy program is extensive and will be costly — remember, this is a Farm Bill, known for its fat subsidies to large-scale farm operators.  For instance, the proposals would start a new program to “provide $100 million in direct support to producers of cellulosic ethanol.” But that’s only one of many boondoggles in the proposals.

The proposal for sugar “reform,” for instance, looks worse than the current program, because it will control even more of the domestic production of sugar.