DaytonDailyNews.com

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown on Wednesday proposed a bill favoring farm subsidies based on revenue, not crop prices.

He also called for lower payment caps per farmer.

Under current law, farmers with adjusted gross incomes of up to $2.5 million can qualify for farm subsidies, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. A bill backed last week by the House of Representatives' agriculture committee would lower that cap to $1 million, and also would affect those with adjusted gross incomes of $500,000 to $1 million who receive less than two-thirds of their income from farming. Brown called for "significantly lower" payment caps, saying the $200,000 payment cap proposed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture was "good."

The centerpiece of Brown's proposal is a "revenue counter cyclical program." Under the program, payments to farmers would be based on revenue, not crop prices alone. Brown said such a program would better protect farmers, for example, in times of drought, when prices might be high but yields are low.

Brown, Ohio's first member of the Senate Agriculture Committee in about 40 years, said his proposal "fixes many holes in the safety net."

The American Farmland Trust and National Corn Growers Association backed Brown's proposal. But Ben Lilliston of the advocacy group Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy in Minneapolis said subsidies based on revenue don't stabilize crop prices. And they keep prices low, benefiting large agribusinesses, he said.

Both the House and Senate must hammer out final versions of the farm bill, which are expected to be reconciled in committee before going to the president.