This paper examines the impact of deficit reductions on agricultural price support spending, and proposes several policy innovations designed to remove agricultural programs from the entitlement category. First, agricultural program costs are analyzed in relation to deficit reduction requirements resulting from recent legislation. Second, price support and food stamp programs are proposed as a separate budget category to be financed through an excise tax on retail food sales. Third, the incidence of this tax on consumers is considered, and compensation for lower income groups is proposed via expanded eligibility for the food stamp program. A final section presents some conclusions for policy.