Undated (KELO-AM) The South Dakota Farmers Union is concerned about the wide disparities in the size of farm payment checks that producers are getting from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
"I just use Hand County for instance," says President Doug Sombke, "They get a 63 cent per acre payment while around them several get 23 dollars or more."
It looks like the law of unintended consequences is at work. The new Farm Bill changed the way payments are computed from the old state-wide formula to a county by county approach to provide a more local safety net. But Sombke says what was a good thing has had some bad side effects.
"As a farmer, I want my neighbor to be treated just as fairly as I or I them, but unfortunately that's just not the case right now," says Sombke.
Some Ag policy experts say payments differ substantially from area to area, from county to county, from crop to crop.
Sombke believes that Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsak has the power to tweek the farm payment system to restore fairness.