Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, voted for the bill. Although sugar growers prevailed in keeping their old subsidy program, Brown said the bill would finally curtail the practice with many other crops of giving money directly to farmers and rewarding them for not growing. This bill, he said, would save taxpayers $24 billion.

Brown has tried for several years to change the subsidy system to one that, he says, “relies on current crop-year data, market prices, and actual yields, making payments to farmers only when the market fails—and only for crops they have actually planted.”

“One in seven Ohio jobs is related to the food and agriculture industry,” Brown said in a statement. “By eliminating direct payments, improving crop insurance, and boosting local food production and bio-based manufacturing, the Senate has taken the first step toward sending to the President a five-year farm bill.”