Guest guest Posted July 11, 2006 Report Share Posted July 11, 2006 Cultivating Waste Massive federal farming entitlements hurt at home. Monday, July 10, 2006; A16 HEART SURGEON Jimmy Frank Howell owns a piece of land that hasn't produced crops in years. The federal government has paid him $490,709 in rice subsidies since 1996. Michael T. Sullivan's family, corn farmers, sold most of their crop last year above a government-set minimum price. He got $292,054 in federal agricultural payments anyway. We've known for a long time that America's bloated food subsidy programs rile foreign governments, complicate trade talks, distort agricultural prices and disproportionately benefit large agribusinesses. As if that weren't enough, the results of a nine-month Post investigation published last week vividly detail the scandalous waste of America's vast farm subsidy system. Many American farmers have learned to speculate on foodstuff markets, successfully timing the sale of their crops to coincide with high prices. Yet under the misleadingly named loan deficiency payment (LDP) scheme the Michael Sullivans of the world can claim federal money as long as the market price dips below a government-set minimum price after they harvest their crop. Intended to benefit farmers hitting hard times, the LDP program handed out $3.8 billion more last year than it needed to guarantee its minimum price. Other federal agricultural subsidies go to individuals who don't even farm. Under a program Congress designed to phase out government subsidies by untying payments from the cultivation of particular crops, Mr. Howell reaps federal dollars from his land as long as he doesn't grow the crops. These " direct payments " to landowners who don't grow any crop have cost the federal government $1.3 billion since 2000. Another thick layer of irony in all of this is that these programs aren't poorly managed. They operate just as Congress passed them. In short: Federal farm subsidies are wildly misdirected and shamefully unfair to anyone who pays taxes and doesn't get a piece of the billions -- $25 billion in 2005 -- the government drops every year on agricultural payments. Last year the federal government paid $4.3 billion in corn subsidies, up from $1 billion in 1998. Lots of American entrepreneurs take risks every year and don't expect a government safety net; why are American farmers, especially the larger planters who expertly extract government farm entitlements, any more deserving? The case for cutting farm subsidies isn't just about closing trade deals, though, as we argued last week, successful trade negotiations are vital. It's also about fixing a broken, inequitable system at home. © 2006 The Washington Post Company Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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