Corn Subsidies

[blueriver]

I don't unerstand it ... have been trying to get some of this and just don't ... somewhere there must be an application process.

 

[smstonypoint]

I don't unerstand it ... have been trying to get some of this and just don't ... somewhere there must be an application process.

I'm not sure that I understand your question, but applications (for those qualifying) are made though the local offices of the Farm Service Agency (FSA), USDA.

Steve

 

[retiredmgn]

I've read the responses here. I'm still at a loss what exactly are "suibsidies"?
I know these farms. They don't grow a single stalk of corn. It appears these farms are growing nothing but money. There are quite a number of 'subsidies' going on here. Let's just use corn for this conversation. I may be mistaken but it appears these farms are being paid to 'NOT' grow corn (/place subsidy of choice here). I'm currently, quietly, chewing off the corner of my keyboard over this. I am under the heading of low-income and really want to have this put in perspective.

 

[smstonypoint]

I've read the responses here. I'm still at a loss what exactly are "suibsidies"?
I know these farms. They don't grow a single stalk of corn. It appears these farms are growing nothing but money. There are quite a number of 'subsidies' going on here. Let's just use corn for this conversation. I may be mistaken but it appears these farms are being paid to 'NOT' grow corn (/place subsidy of choice here). I'm currently, quietly, chewing off the corner of my keyboard over this. I am under the heading of low-income and really want to have this put in perspective.

"Subsidies" come in a variety of shapes and colors. The farms you speak of may be involved in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP).Conservation Reserve Program - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Farmers may have received direct and counter-cyclical payments. http://future.aae.wisc.edu/publications/farm_bill/dcp06.pdf

Farmers may be participating in the new ACRE program. The New ACRE Program: Frequently Asked Questions

Farmers may have received Loan Deficiency Payments (LDPs).http://www.usda.gov/documents/Marketing_Assistance_Loans_and_Loan_Deficiency_Payments.pdf

I am sure that I am omitting some of the forms that subsidies can take, but these are the ones that come to mind immediately.

Steve

Edit -- Although not a direct subsidy, corn growers benefit from the ethanol subsidy -- that subsidy increases the demand for corn and raises corn prices. The ultimate beneficiaries will likely be landowners as land rents/prices will be (have been) bid up.

Re-edit -- In my dotage I forgot crop insurance -- the premiums paid by farmers are subsidized.

 

[bp fick]

The government is subject, of course, to congressman needing votes, politics, lobbying and all that sort of thing. But, there is also an aspect of national defense, economic stability and "too big to fail" here as well. Farm land and farmers are not quite like other industries. The rock pile that forms the policies of the US government in agriculture and agribusiness are the result of decades of stone upon stone. It wasn't done overnight.

The government wants some stability in prices, even if that means some manipulation through subsidies. It doesn't want farmers going from boom and bust. Some history lessons learned from the late 1800s and early 1900s with horrible swings of pricing, land values and speculation based on weather conditions and crop disease.

One could say there is an element of central planning in all this. Would a total free market approach be better over the long haul? To be decided, I guess.

 

[DANOCHEESE]

Wow you just figured out that we subsidsed our food in America?? Those are peanuts for sudsidies.

If you realy want to get mad I get paid not to farm. Kind of wish I had some of the CRP back next year. Talk about a subsidy for doing nothing.

I was going to buy more land as it actauly wokrd out to not farm. Prce of farm land jsut wnet above the $9000 ana cre can't makeit not farming that land.

 

[smstonypoint]

Here's a pie chart that shows the funding of various programs via the latest (2008) Farm Bill. The 68% spent on nutrition goes to food stamps, WIC, subsidized school lunches, etc. To the extent that these programs increase the demand for "food," the derived demand for ag. commodities increases.

Steve

 

[bigtiller]

I'm currently, quietly, chewing off the corner of my keyboard over this. I am under the heading of low-income and really want to have this put in perspective.

Why are you getting so worked up over something you know very little about? Our elected officials in congress have looked at the bigger picture and have decided it is a good thing. Besides, it has been this way since FDR's New Deal in the 30's

 

[JDOneDay]

This article is over 4 years old but it explains some things about the subsidy people can get even if they don't farm. I get information each year regarding payment since the land I bought used to be farmed but I just toss it away since I wouldn't feel right taking the money.

Farm Program Pays $1.3 Billion to People Who Don't Farm - washingtonpost.com

 

[AKfish]

The State of Alaska granted $3 billion in tax waivers, investment credits, capital allowances, etc. etc. in 2009 to the oil companies. That's just one year and one state!

Corn ethanol, biodiesel, wood waste ethanol, algae derived diesel, cellulosic ethanol - the multitude of sources currently under development to ease the nation's dependence on oil - will need some form of subsidy in order to find an economic "toe hold" in the marketplace.

Head to head with the oil based infrastructure - those future industries would not survive and synthetic fuel development would be continually stalled for any number of years.

Hopefully, the next several generation's of American's will look back and thank the current generation for their willingness to move beyond an added $.10 per pound for their hamburger and support efforts to develop alternative energy sources!

AKfish