Lawmakers have agreed to a deal on a farm bill that would end direct subsidies to farms and replace them with a crop insurance program, instead.

This deal will also affect food stamps for around 850,000 people who count on this money to feed their families. It could cut as much as $90.00 per month from those food benefits that the underprivileged count upon.

The farm bill would last five years and needs to pass both chambers and then be signed by the president, so obviously it’s not carved in stone yet.

The bill could be passed before the spring planting season, which is important to farmers to know early, how it might affect their yield prices.

The bill changes the current agricultural subsidy system ending direct payments to farmers for crops they plant, and replaces it with a beefed-up crop insurance program.

“Today’s bipartisan agreement puts us on the verge of enacting a five-year Farm Bill that saves taxpayers billions, eliminates unnecessary subsidies, creates a more effective farm safety-net and helps farmers and businesses create jobs,” said Sen. Debbie Stabenow, a Michigan Democrat who chairs the Senate agriculture panel.

Unfortunately, this change to farm subsidies affects food stamps, trimming $8 billion from the program over the next 10 years, according to congressional aides. That’s less than the $39 billion that Republicans want to cut from the program, but double what Democrats suggested.

This deal, designed to prevent 17 states (which ones are unknown at this time) from “doling out more generous food stamps to people” who get federal help to heat or cool their homes, even if the help is as little as $1. They stress the change won’t cut families from food stamps; it will just shrink the amount some families get.

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