The Heritage Foundation - Leadership for America

May 24, 2008 Brian in Prairie du Sac, WI writes:

I am a farmer, and I would like to know how it has come to pass that I will be subsidized more with record high prices? The LDP payments will be non-existant this year, and direxct paymemnts aren’t going to change. Also, please mention once and a while that 66% of the Farm Bill is nutrition, like food stamps and meals on wheels.

Brian

May 26, 2008 Bob, Mitchell Sd writes:

I work in agriculture. The farm bill as I see it distorts land rents and the majority of money goes to millionaires. I resent the fact the taxpayer continues to foot this bill and the ag sector views it as owed to them.

June 12, 2008 Keith Placerville writes:

The problem with most farm subsidy issues isn’t the principle as much as the way the execution of who gets help and relief is written. Unfortuneately it seems that the wealthy who don’t need the help have the friends in high places. The farming community needs to make a point to educate everyone about what is supposed to happen, what does happen, and what should happen to make it actually work. The new legislation exposing how grants and subsidy is allocated should bring some illumination to a previously secretive process that allows abuses to proliferate. Too many people throwing their knee jerk reactions into something that has many facets that they know nothing about, myself included. It seems like Bob Mitchell above sees a perspective most of us don’t. I’d like to know more so that I could intelligently react to what seems like a ludicrous concept. My biggest question is about the seemingly brain dead concept of paying a farmer not to grow something, what’s with that? Hell, he puts as much worthless land that couldn’t possibly be expected to produce to the plow so as to be paid for what he knows will happen, he can’t grow anything there, DUH. All of a sudden he has been hit with a disaster, his crops didn’t come through, DUH. Tax bases and acreage bases are all out of kilter because of ill conceived grant and subsidy programs. How about if we can try to help those who can prove they need help and let the wealthy combines fend for themselves? Let’s let prices stabilize by supply and demand and farmers decide what to plant by a registry. Those stupid enough to grow what everyone else is growing won’t survive well when the price comes down will they?

June 12, 2008 Keith Placerville writes:

OOPS, one last clarification.

I just want to see that good support happens, if the government makes a 2% loan intended for farm equipment available it isn’t being used by those buying low interest Ferraris and Hummers. It’s not that hard to give programs good oversight to eliminate the abuse which eats up 95% of the budgets. Yeah, help farmers out who need it and don’t abuse it, we depend on them more than we seem to be aware of. Lose the pork.