"U.S. farmers are about to reap a bumper harvest not just in corn and soybeans but also in new subsidies that could soar to $10 billion, blowing a hole in the government's promise that its new five-year farm bill would save taxpayers money.

If payments for 2014, the first year the farm bill takes effect, do come in at that level - as some private economists have calculated - they would be more than 10 times the U.S. Department of Agriculture's working estimate and more than double the forecast by the Congressional Budget Office.

Farmers will be in line for payouts if revenues fail to meet benchmarks tied to long-term price and production averages. Both the USDA's and the CBO's estimates were made before crop prices tumbled this year on oversupply from a huge harvest."

Ros Krasny and Christine Stebbins report for Reuters November 20, 2014. [2]