Harvesting Cash: Corporate Welfare For Farmers

Consider these facts. Ninety percent of all subsidies go to just five crops: corn, rice, cotton, wheat, and soybeans. Two thirds of all farm products-including perishable fruits and vegetables-receive almost no subsidies. And just 10% of recipients receive 75% of all subsidies. A program intended to be a “temporary solution” has become one of our government’s most glaring examples of corporate welfare.

U.S. taxpayers aren’t the only ones who pay the price. Cotton subsidies, for example, encourage overproduction which lowers the world price of cotton. That’s great for people who buy cotton, but it’s disastrous for already impoverished cotton farmers in places such as West Africa.

U.S. farm programs cost taxpayers billions each year, significantly raise the price of commodities such as sugar (which is protected from competition from other producers in other countries), undermine world trade agreements, and contribute to the suffering of poor farmers around the world. It’s bad public policy, especially in these troubled economic times.

From a new report and video from Reason “Agricultural Subsidies: Corporate Welfare for Farmers,” (link here).

MP: As the chart above shows, another fact to consider is that average 2007 household farm income ($86,223) was 27.5% higher than U.S. average household income ($67,609), according to the USDA.

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