Family Farms Being Hammered By Subsidies AND Agribusiness

It’s not the small family farm that receives the bulk of the farm subsidies recently in the news. It is the agribusinesses that can afford to keep lobbyists in Washington, D.C. who are the beneficiaries of the government dole. The agribusiness farmers, after they graduated from college with an MBA, adopted the same manufacturing principles as their urban cousins – economies of scale. Thousands of acres of farmland are cultivated, sprayed and watered by machines and farm laborers. There are smaller farms that also receive subsidies, as well. It is only those farms that practice “alternative” farming practices (organic, sustainable) that do not depend on the American taxpayers.

A study conducted by the Environmental Working Group over the past nine years reported that farm subsidies amounted to over $131 billion. In Illinois, for example, of the 73,027 farms in the state, 47, 857 or 66% received money from the government. In California, where there are 70,631 farms, only 7,828 farms or 9% received payments.

The number of farms in Illinois may seem staggering until the figures are examined more closely. At the bottom of the pyramid of the farm subsidy program are thousands and thousands of medium-sized to small farms. In the nine-year period, those farms averaged $4700 or $529/year – hardly enough money to operate a farm.

In contrast, the top 10% American agribusinesses received on average $309,823 in the nine-year period or $34,000 annually from the American taxpayers. And while $34,000 may be a paltry amount to run one of those huge farms, it is more than many American families earn each year, including some small farmers.