How do farmers make any money?

[Mtsoxfan]

Don't get me wrong, it feels like some farmers can use a hand up. It's the giving our money to the gov, and letting them decide who should get. It's a well known fact that there is a lot of back scratching going on.

 

[quicksandfarmer]

Guess I have it all wrong, ran my campground and farm without help until I retired. Still running the farm but the only government funds was a 2500 ppp loan during covid .
No tax breaks, got charged extra for being a business. Nothing tax free just extra fees and inspections because we were a business. Now it's just a hobby farm with my critters feeding us.

Most "farmers" here have full time jobs to be afford having the farm.

Did your farm and campground have electricity? Then you were probably getting help from Rural Electrification. Did they have telephone? Then you were probably getting help from Universal Service. Did they have roads going to them? Then you were probably getting help from federal highway funds.

My point is these programs are set up so the people being helped by them are unaware.

 

[Eagle1]

Did your farm and campground have electricity? Then you were probably getting help from Rural Electrification. Did they have telephone? Then you were probably getting help from Universal Service. Did they have roads going to them? Then you were probably getting help from federal highway funds.

My point is these programs are set up so the people being helped by them are unaware.

You have point....
Elecric -- Crawford EMC small membership coop for out county.
Phone - Steelville Tel total of 2400 members
Road all gravel, graded at least once a year by the county's only grader in the southern half. I know all 5 workers and their boss. I donated a lot of clay/rock for road restoration after flash floods in the area to help local folks.

 

[ultrarunner]

Almost all of rural America would be uninhabitable without aid from the federal government.

Look up your state here and see what percent of births are paid for by Medicaid:

Births Financed by Medicaid by Metropolitan Status | KFF State Health Facts

State level data on Births Financed by Medicaid by Metropolitan Status from KFF, the leading health policy organization in the U.S.

www.kff.org

Look up your county here and see what percent of personal income is transfer payments from the federal government:

The Contributions of Government Transfer Payments to Personal Income - farmdoc daily

Mark White - Mark White - Contributions to personal income vary widely. Many working-age Americans rely heavily on the income earned from wage and salary jobs. Other Americans — particularly many older Americans — rely more on government transfer payments. This farmdoc daily article shows how...

farmdocdaily.illinois.edu

Look up your state here and see how much of state and local budgets come from federal aid:

Which states rely the most on federal aid? | USAFacts

A fifth of state and local government revenues come from federal funding.

usafacts.org

Interesting links…

I see California is number 1 on the list as a State receiving but my county for individuals receiving is in the lowest percentile.

 

[ultrarunner]

A lot of it, such as the farm programs started out as something good but outlived it's usefulness. The problem is that once a program is started it doesn't end.

This could be changing???

 

[quicksandfarmer]

You have point....
Elecric -- Crawford EMC small membership coop for out county.
Phone - Steelville Tel total of 2400 members
Road all gravel, graded at least once a year by the county's only grader in the southern half. I know all 5 workers and their boss. I donated a lot of clay/rock for road restoration after flash floods in the area to help local folks.

Electrical coops and local phone companies are both subsidized by the federal government.

 

[Redbug]

You can see what the different farm subsidies are for and if you pick your state and county. You can see who the recipients are by drilling down and looking on the left hand column.

EWG's Farm Subsidy Database

EWG's Farm Subsidy Database put the issue on the map and is driving reform. Just ten percent of America's largest and richest farms collect almost three-fourths of federal farm subsidies; cash payments that often harm the environment.

farm.ewg.org

 

[Jstpssng]

This could be changing???

Yes, as we throw out the proverbial baby with the bathwater.

 

[Eagle1]

You can see what the different farm subsidies are for and if you pick your state and county. You can see who the recipients are by drilling down and looking on the left hand column.

EWG's Farm Subsidy Database

EWG's Farm Subsidy Database put the issue on the map and is driving reform. Just ten percent of America's largest and richest farms collect almost three-fourths of federal farm subsidies; cash payments that often harm the environment.

farm.ewg.org

Handy I did learn my county receive mostly food assistance and has a couple of times in the last 10 years received Livestock Forage Disaster Payments

• 67 percent of farms in Missouri did not collect subsidy payments - according to USDA.

 

[hayden]

Those medicaid statistics are highly suspect. They don't say what they mean by "funded". Does that mean that medicaid paid all the medical bills? I'm sure that's what you are thinking as your blood boils thinking about all those layabouts without jobs, crapping out kid after kid after kid on public funds, right? I'm sure that's what's intended, and once again people are being led around by the nose.

I seriously doubt that's what it actually shows, especially considering that less than 19% of the US population receives Medicaid. If you assume half of those are women, then it's only 9%. It probably means that medicaid money funded some aspect of the delivery. Maybe it's even broader and Medicaid funded some aspect of pre-natal care as well as labor and delivery?

Does anyone realize that medical residencies (final stage of medical training for doctors) are funded by medicaid? So if any medical resident is involved in any aspect of pre-natal, labor, and delivery, then Medicaid has "funded" the birth. My son recently finished his residency in OBGYN, and guess what? Every single mom that comes through the hospital is seen by a resident. So for that hospital, which is a really big one, it's 100% of the births.

So no, Medicaid isn't paying people to have babies. The study probably shows how much of pre-natal, labor, and delivery is handled by residents. In any teaching hospital, it's 100%.

 

[quicksandfarmer]

Electrical coops and local phone companies are both subsidized by the federal government.

And I think without meaning to you are making my point.

Since the founding of the republic the federal government has subsidized people moving to and living in rural areas. In the 19th century it was the Homestead Act and the Railway Act, in the 20th century it was farm subsidies, rural electrification, universal telephone service, Medicaid and Social Security and Social Security disability. In the 19th century it was seen as a matter of national security, if we didn't occupy all the land we bought from Napoleon in the Louisiana Purchase the British or the Spanish or the French or the Russians could swoop in and take it from us. In the 20th century it was more about stabilizing agricultural production and preventing the kind of mass migration that happened during the Dust Bowl.

What all these programs had in common is that they were designed so that for the people benefitting from them they didn't feel like charity. So, for example, instead of the federal government directly providing electricity to places where the population density was too low for a commercial utility to provide service profitably, they paid to set up cooperatives, paid some of their capital costs and continue to pay some of their operating expenses. But as a rate-payer, unless you're particularly curious you'd never know this.

 

[quicksandfarmer]

You can see what the different farm subsidies are for and if you pick your state and county. You can see who the recipients are by drilling down and looking on the left hand column.

EWG's Farm Subsidy Database

EWG's Farm Subsidy Database put the issue on the map and is driving reform. Just ten percent of America's largest and richest farms collect almost three-fourths of federal farm subsidies; cash payments that often harm the environment.

farm.ewg.org

Note that the links I provided earlier about federal aid to the states doesn't include farm subsidies.

 

[ultrarunner]

We have friends that are 7 miles from paved road and have phone service… the small community deep in the redwoods has no other utilities, the road through was blocked by the park service and no over the air TV and sketchy AM radio… old lumber community going way back.

Yet they got phone service under a rural plan 30+ years back…

Now the phone company wants to end that service…

What the government provides it can take away.

 

[quicksandfarmer]

Those medicaid statistics are highly suspect. They don't say what they mean by "funded". Does that mean that medicaid paid all the medical bills? I'm sure that's what you are thinking as your blood boils thinking about all those layabouts without jobs, crapping out kid after kid after kid on public funds, right? I'm sure that's what's intended, and once again people are being led around by the nose.

I seriously doubt that's what it actually shows, especially considering that less than 19% of the US population receives Medicaid. If you assume half of those are women, then it's only 9%. It probably means that medicaid money funded some aspect of the delivery. Maybe it's even broader and Medicaid funded some aspect of pre-natal care as well as labor and delivery?

Does anyone realize that medical residencies (final stage of medical training for doctors) are funded by medicaid? So if any medical resident is involved in any aspect of pre-natal, labor, and delivery, then Medicaid has "funded" the birth. My son recently finished his residency in OBGYN, and guess what? Every single mom that comes through the hospital is seen by a resident. So for that hospital, which is a really big one, it's 100% of the births.

So no, Medicaid isn't paying people to have babies. The study probably shows how much of pre-natal, labor, and delivery is handled by residents. In any teaching hospital, it's 100%.

This page breaks down the payment for deliveries by source: Medicare, private insurance, self-pay.

Births by Source of Payment for Delivery | KFF

disparity, Disparities

www.kff.org

They don't give definitions, but since the percentages add to 100% it's unlikely they're counting any birth that is partly funded by Medicare as fully in the Medicare column.

They do say it's just for deliveries, so it's not counting pre-natal or post-natal care.

 

[Hay Dude]

We have friends that are 7 miles from paved road and have phone service… the small community deep in the redwoods has no other utilities, the road through was blocked by the park service and no over the air TV and sketchy AM radio… old lumber community going way back.

Yet they got phone service under a rural plan 30+ years back…

Now the phone company wants to end that service…

What the government provides it can take away.

That’s really interesting. They are still surviving even with the road blocked off?

 

[ultrarunner]

The road blocked means a trip to town is minimum 2.5 times longer and it ticked many off.

The master plan is for the park to continue buying every parcel that it can.

The sweetener is the park will buy your land and let you live on it the rest of your natural days but no longer yours.

My friend’s widowed neighbor was having cash problems living on meager social security… she sold to the park and remained 13 years… the month she passed all trace of the home and outbuilding obliterated as if nothing had been there… just a clearing in the forest…

At least no one is forced to sell but closing the road had some seeing a declaration of war… it’s not like a gate was put up… the road no longer exists which in Fire Country is idiotic…

Big Basin Redwood Park…

The first time I went to surprise my friend I took the wrong fork in the road and folks knew I was a stranger in the area… good I knew my friends father in law’s name when a woman greeted holding a rifle…

The worst fears came true in 2020 when fire struck…

I took in my friend horses for a week as they scrambled…

The growing of herbs was popular for a time but with legalization… not so much anymore.

https://tzuchi.us/blog/last-chance-community-still-rebuilding-after-2020-fire

 

[Flogger]

Did your farm and campground have electricity? Then you were probably getting help from Rural Electrification. Did they have telephone? Then you were probably getting help from Universal Service. Did they have roads going to them? Then you were probably getting help from federal highway funds.

My point is these programs are set up so the people being helped by them are unaware.

Not exclusively farm programs. Everyone in rural locations get them. They work so well that when I moved from the most populist area of my state to the very rural area I grew up in, my internet service went from $50 to $160. I declined their help!

 

[Flogger]

I avoid the USDA like the plague. One quarter I bought was under CRP contract when I purchased it. They kept telling me I had to burn it and I kept telling them I would prepare it but they would have to strike the match because this country is dry and on any given day the wind can be ferocious at the drop of a hat. They finally compromised if I would plant wild flowers on a 50/50 share. $2600 dollars later was the beginning of a 7 year battle with Musk Thistle which I had never had that cost me thousands. If you want to see what happened to family farms just study the USDA and look at where all the subsidies go in your county.

 

[ruffdog]

The combined shifts put total corn usage at a record 15.06 billion bushels, 70 million bushels above this year’s estimate. Ending stocks, however, continue to rise, reaching 2.208 billion bushels. The 2025-26 season-average price is projected to fall to $3.90 per bushel, roughly $2.60 below the 2022-23 season-average price.

Thus, 2025-26 soybean ending stocks are projected at 435 million bushels, 35 million below this year’s level. But despite the smaller stocks, USDA shows soybean prices continuing to fall, with the 2025-26 season-average price estimate at $10.00 per bushel. That is a $4.20 drop from the peak in 2022.

The preview for 2025 | Ag Decision Maker.

 

[jigs_n_fixtures]

Electrical coops and local phone companies are both subsidized by the federal government.

The local coops, (electric, phone, and propane), where I am were started with Federal Assistance. But are now self-sufficient.