Collins Says Crop Insurance May Be Trade Safety Net.

The article reports that U.S. Agriculture Department Chief Economist Keith Collins said that he believes the U.S. allowance of $19.1 billion in trade-distorting subsidies could be cut in half by the Doha Round of trade negotiations. Collins made the statement at a House Agriculture General Farm Commodities and Risk Management Subcommittee hearing on the crop insurance program. Collins said the U.S. might turn to a bigger crop insurance program as an alternative safety net for farmers because crop insurance is classified separately from the product-specific trade-distorting subsidies, in a category called de minimis. But Collins also warned that category is limited to 5 percent of U.S. production and the ability to use crop insurance would depend on what other programs are classified with it and the size of the de minimis category after negotiations are concluded.