Direct payments for crop year 2009/10

Direct payments are paid on a fixed-acreage base with fixed payment yields. Payment rates are fixed in the 2008 Farm Act. Coverage includes: Feed grains (corn, grain sorghum, barley and oats),Wheat, Upland cotton, Rice, Soybeans, Minor oilseeds, and Peanuts. Direct payments are not linked to current production. Producers are free to plant most crops on base acreage, with some limitations on planting fruit and vegetables. Producers can even elect to leave the land idle. Thus, these payments are considered to be minimally production- and trade-distorting.