Whew, what a season!
The opening pitch was thrown when the government put up billions of dollars to cover most of the premiums for millions of crop insurance policies taken out by high-scoring farmers.
God-given talent, hard work and a little luck paid off for many of America’s farmers this year. But as fans everywhere know, at the end of the day only a handful of them can be Subsidy All Stars.
Those who have been following the game in recent seasons won’t be shocked that the big guys have kept their winning streak going strong. The largest franchises have been scoring record high levels of net farm income. That’s no surprise, since they’ve been hitting home runs the past few years with record-breaking prices for crops like corn and soy – and early line for next season is looking good, too.
On top of all that, the subsidies keep on coming! Much the way taxpayers often subsidize shiny new stadiums, they’re also picking up an average of 62 percent of crop insurance premiums – even for the wealthiest farmers. And these subsidies end up adding to already substantial profits in the farming major leagues.
Let’s take a look back at the most recent season to remember our Subsidy All Stars. Unfortunately, we can’t cheer them on by name since the commissioner doesn’t release those stats. But we still consider them winners at the subsidy game, since each one benefited from at least $1 million in crop insurance premium subsidies in 2011 alone. That sure makes the case for a means testing subsidy “salary cap” in the farm bill.
Check out the outrageous stats on their cards below to learn more about America’s Subsidy All Stars. And to see which ones are catching subsidies on a field near you, explore EWG’s map of subsidy millionaires the whopping 174 counties where these 26 All Stars have home field advantage.
