View and Download the report here: Bumper Crop

Congress is now considering giving a handful of the largest farms in the country an enormous “bumper crop” in farm subsidies right before the election. The only farms that will be eligible for the extra subsidies are a few thousand of the very largest farms and agribusinesses in the nation. Farms eligible for this proposed bonanza collected an average of $147,000 in loan subsidies in 1999, 14 times more than those NOT eligible, who received about $7,000 in loan subsidies in 1999 (Figure 1). Fully 99 percent of the nation’s farmers will see no benefit whatsoever from this latest example of Congress’ generosity with taxpayers’ money.

This subsidy boost will be accomplished through an arcane, eleventh-hour amendment to the agriculture spending bill now pending before a House- Senate conference committee. The amendment would double the amount of taxpayer subsidy that the largest farmers could receive under increasingly costly USDA “loan” programs.

View and Download the report here: Bumper Crop

Key Issues, Toxics, Health Concerns: 

Farming

Subsidies