Senate passes $286 billion (197.1 billion) farm bill expanding subsidies for growers

The Senate approved a $286 billion (197.12 billion) farm bill on Friday with an election-year expansion of subsidies for growers and for food stamps for the poor.

The bill, passed on a 79-14 vote, expands subsidies for wheat, barley, oat, soybeans and several other crops and creates new grants for growers of vegetables and fruit.

In recent years such subsidies have caused serious friction in trade negotiations with Europe under the World Trade Organization's so-called Doha Round to produce a global trade arrangement. Talks that began in 2001 have foundered on the refusal of both the European Union and the United States to eliminate subsidies.

It …