Crap in the Farm Bill: Exhibit C - F...  

The Natural Stone Checkoff. 

I don't have an issue with refundable checkoffs for any industry, but the Farm Bill? The fact this is included is indicative of how Congress views it as the Mother of All Pork Handouts.

And speaking of pork...

Pork and poultry producers are exposed to trade and food safety disruptions to their export markets, which contributes to the importance of addressing the issue of catastrophic losses. Klobuchar included a provision in the Senate-passed Farm Bill that would require a feasibility study for insuring swine producers against catastrophic losses, and she also cosponsored a provision that would require a feasibility study for insuring turkey and chicken producers against catastrophic losses. [More]

I dunno.  The more larded up this thing gets, the lower the chances of passge, I think.

With Koch-money fueled threats of Tea Party primary opponents, many Republican House members will be picking their way through a minefield.

Finally, another Southern effort to support a commodity that market forces don't.

Crop insurance and price-support plans hold the most risk for bigger federal spending, Smith said. Along with revenue guarantees for peanuts and cotton, the bill includes the catfish provision as well as the consideration of catastrophic-loss plans for poultry and swine and regular policies for alfalfa and sugarcane.
Temperate japonica rice used in sushi would be added as a crop eligible for price supports. The new program is justified because direct payments to rice farmers would be eliminated in the bill, said Charley Mathews Jr., who raises 600 acres of the rice variety near Marysville, California, about 40 miles north of Sacramento. [More]

So, add alfalfa to the list - which just keeps growing. Cattlemen could be the last holdouts.

Of course, this is all Obama's fault, according to some.