This was quite an interesting distillation of farm bill subsidies. Having a guide like this for the political debates would also be helpful!
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Myths From the Mainstream Media
About U.S. Farm Policy
Excerpted with permission from the Institute for Agriculture
and Trade Policy.
The complete list of the top 10 myths
is available at tinyurl.com/farmpolicy.
1. Myth: Rich farmers get all the money from the Farm Bill.
Reality: Sixty-eight percent of the Farm Bill goes to nutrition
programs. Eleven percent goes to farm commodity programs.
And eight percent goes to conservation programs.
2. Myth: Farmers don’t need government support. They’re
getting rich off rising food prices.
Reality: Farmers receive less than 20 cents of the food dollar.
Costs of production have skyrocketed. Since 2002, farm
expenses have increased 45 percent.
3. Myth: Rich farmers benefit most from the Farm Bill.
Reality: Big agribusiness companies like Monsanto, Cargill
and Archer Daniels Midland are the big winners. They reap
the bounty, while farmers do the work and take the risk.
4. Myth: Only rich farmers receive subsidies.
Reality: Middle and small scale family farmers also receive
subsidies—and in some ways are more reliant on them to
survive when times get tough.
5. Myth: If we eliminated subsidies, the market would level the
playing field for family farmers.
Reality: Without ensuring a fair price, family farmers would
more easily succumb to market volatility.
Picture: Mine. Soybeans in Blairsberg, Iowa.
