Take the subsidized water that makes California's vegetables competitive with imports.

The seemingly endless battle in Congress over subsidized water for farms is flaring again on several fronts.

"Why should we subsidize a pump that will sell subsidized water to grow a subsidized crop?"

The original reclamation law was designed to provide subsidized water only to small farmers.

The 1982 law was intended to end this practice of creating "paper farms" to acquire subsidized water.

In either case, there could be no subsidized water on leased land beyond the statutory limits under the new regulations.

Most of the farms now receiving subsidized water are small and would not be particularly affected by the new rules.

But about 400 large corporate and family farms, most of them in California, would be seriously affected by restrictions on subsidized water.

The bill, which has passed the House, would also prevent farmers from receiving both price support subsidies and subsidized water, a practice commonly called "double-dipping."

The 1982 law placed a maximum of 960 acres on the size of a farm whose owner could receive subsidized water.