Subsidy Programs for Farmers

937 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: farm subsidies problem

Subsidy programs had been applied near 80 years already, but the fundamental ideas remains the same. Many farming subsidies originated from the Great Depression. Because of the unstable economy conditions, 25 percent of the nation’s farmer resided in the 1930s. Government soon applied a program to encourage people to join farming and minimize the declination numbers of farmers. Subsidies are financial supports from the United State government that helps farmer to remain stable income.

Another reason that we have subsidies for commodity crops like corn and soybeans is to keep crops at low market value. With the support from government, farmers can grow as much as they can at a low cost. In addition, farmers get extra money as a reward for guaranteeing their crops stays at a price level. For example, a farmer got 52 cents reward for guaranteed wheat price stayed at $3.86 per bushel from year 2002 to 2003. If a farmer could lower the price to $3.80, the government would give the farmer 6 cents extra, total of 58 cents. Corn is so important to us because it is not only use in food, but also gas fuel for everyday driving. Billions of gallons of ethanol are mixed into gas fuel each year. Energy Policy Act of 2005 subsided between $ 5.5 billion to 73 billion dollars per year to ensure U.S. corn ethanol demand. Manufacturers could also get a benefit of 51 cents per gallon. While state subsidies and federal crop subsidies to federal subsidies could bring the total to 85 cents per gallon or more, many farmers have join to grow corn. However, the federal ethanol subsidies ended at December 31, 2011

Currently, the government pays around $20 billion each year to farmers. Feed grains and corn mainly occupies the top share of the subsidies, 3...

... middle of paper ...

...huge deficit. I think there is a necessary to have better control on money spending or the stop this type of funding. While many people are still suffering from the poverty line, these food polices are give more money to wealthy billionaires.

In a conclusion, there are three reasons to stop subsidies for commodity crops. First, Overproduction and overuse of corn and soybean could cause healthy crisis to people. Second, unfair distribution in subsidies had limited the growth of fresh fruit and vegetables, and organic farmers. And lastly, the federal spent a lot of money on someone who does not need help. The government should set up stricter requirements to avoid careless spending such as background check, financial reporting, and income standards, etc. Now, it is time for the food industry to enter a free market, where it can balance people’s need and crops price.

Show More
Related

  • Summary Of The Omnivore's Dilemma By Michael Pollan

    6082 Words  | 13 Pages

    Corn took over American farmlands at the end of World War II, when a new synthetic fertilizer was introduced and manufactured by former munitions factories. It allowed for the elimination of crop rotation, leading to the switch from family farms to the corn monoculture. Economically, this system seems to make more sense, but it destroyed the once sustainable, sun-driven fertility cycle. Now, farmers are trapped into making more and more corn by government policy. As the abundance of the crop causes prices to fall, farmers must plant even more in order to make ends meet, surviving off constantly decreasing government subsidies. What’s worse is that the New Deal system that allowed corn farmers to stay afloat has since been dismantled in an effort to lower food prices and increase production without considering the farmers

    Read More

  • King Corn by Aaron Woolf

    1293 Words  | 3 Pages

    Selling corn in massive quantity can lead to a greater profit. An ear of corn may averages about eight-hundred kernels in sixteen rows and a pound of corn consists of approximately 1,300 kernels. One-hundred bushels of corn makes approximately 7,280,000 kernels. Every year, a single U.S. Farmer may provides food and fiber for 129 people in the U.S. and 32 overseas. In the U.S., corn production is 2 times that of any other crop. Over 55% of Iowa’s corn goes to foreign markets and the rest is used in other parts of the United States of America.

    Read More

  • Farm Bureau Leading the Challenge

    795 Words  | 2 Pages

    In 1919, farmers from thirty states, including Missouri, saw a need. They gathered in Chicago and formed the American Farm Bureau Federation. In 1919, they had one goal, they wanted to speak for themselves with the help of their own national organization. Since 1919, Farm Bureau has operated by a philosophy that states: “analyze the problem of farmers and develop a plan of action for these problems” (Missouri). In the past 94 years, the A...

    Read More

  • Essay On Corn Subsidies

    669 Words  | 2 Pages

    A viable alternative to corn subsidies would be a program that would replace the corn subsidies with a price floor. A price floor would c...

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Stuffed And Starved

    2185 Words  | 5 Pages

    ...struggling to earn any income at all and sometimes do not even get the opportunity to eat. Another issue that Raj Patel did not touch on is the lack of care consumers have for the farmers. It seems that consumers care about farmers about as much as the corporations do, which, in my opinion, is not a lot. When consumers only care about low prices and large corporations only care about making a profit, the farmers are left out to dry. Many consumers believe “food should be available at a bargain price, a belief that relies on labor exploitation and environmental exhaustion at multiple points along the commodity chain.” (Wright, 95) Corporations as well as consumers generally tend to be selfish and I think Raj Patel is afraid to mention this. If only these people cared a little bit more about each other I believe the hourglass of the food system will begin to even out.

    Read More

  • Should Corn Ethanol Be Used For Fuel?

    2514 Words  | 6 Pages

    Given the amount of resources that the world as a whole has access to why use corn as a source of fuel? Some would say that countries, such as the United States have an overabundance of food produce. Logically, those countries that have an over surplus of food MUST have enough to put a dent into the rapidly increasing costs of oil and gasoline. Unfortunately, that is a misconception. In order to produce enough corn to fuel the global economy it is important to analyze what that actually means for farmers and the government, not to mention the actual food supply. In order to produce corn ethanol, we must first grow an abundance of corn. Simple right? Wrong, corn is very draining on the soil it is grown, which, in short, means that whomever is growing the corn would have to rotate the corn plantation with something that will restore the nutrients of the soil. Unfortunately, that takes both time and money to do. The task would cal...

    Read More

  • The Problems with Farm Subsidies

    1215 Words  | 3 Pages

    government to set the minimum price and amount sold of a good at the market.

    Read More

  • The Agricultural Adjustment Act

    445 Words  | 1 Pages

    During World War I, England’s agricultural economy was badly damaged. This inconvenience for the English was a blessing to American farmers. Since the invention of the combine, and various other mechanical harvesting machines, American farmers could increase their crop yield. In turn they could export the extra crops to England for more money. Once England got back on it’s feet, American farmers could not find any exports for their crops. As they continued to produce more than the American people could consume, the prices of agricultural goods dramatically dropped. By the 1930’s many farmers were in serious need of help, with heavy farm loans and mortgages hanging over their head’s. Nothing had been done to help the farmer’s during The Hoover Administration. So in 1933 as part of Roosevelt’s New Deal, the Secretary of Agriculture, Henry Wallace devised a plan to limit production and increase prices. Which came to be known as the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933, also known as the AAA. The AAA was established on May 12, 1933 it was the New Deal idea to assist farmers during the Great Depression. It was the first widespread effort to raise and stabilize farm prices and income. The law created and authorized the Agricultural Adjustment Administration to: Enter into voluntary agreements to pay farmers to reduce production of basic commodities ( cotton, wheat, corn, rice, tobacco, hogs, milk, etc..), to make advanced payments to farmers who stored crops on the farm, create marketing agreements between farmers and middlemen, and to levy processing taxes to pay for production adjustments and market development. Basically the AAA paid farmers to destroy their crops and livestock in return for cash. In 1933 alone cotton farmers were paid $100 million to plow over their cotton crop. Six million piglets were slaughtered by the government after they bought them from farmers. The meat was canned and given to people without jobs. In order for this new bill to work there needed to be money to pay the farmers, this money came from the companies that bought farm products in the form of taxes. While it seemed like a good idea to pay farmers to cut back on crops to lowering the surplus and boost the economy, The Supreme Court found the Act unconstitutional in 1936.

    Read More

  • The Omnivore's Dilemma By Michael Pollan

    488 Words  | 1 Pages

    Currently, agribusinesses’ dominate the U.S food production, employing unethical practices in order to maximize profits at the expense of the environment, animal welfare, and even our health. Economically, other methods of harvest often “require higher capital and petroleum energy inputs” that lower “the return to the farmer/rancher” (L34) which results in farmers using other more convenient methods that higher their

    Read More

  • I Eat Michael Pollan Analysis

    859 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the 1930s, farmers were encouraged to “produce more food for a hungry nation” (Pollan 49). Pollan says that since people were making reserve in case of a drought or any events that would interact with the way crops grow. The food industry was a diverse complex of plants and animals that would mostly eat grain and they had more than one type of plants growing. At the same time, the farmer’s bureau was created to have a balance for farmers so they can have some support when prices were low. This was called a New Deal program. The government was at the same time trying to avoid overproduction so that it respects the soil for a more sustainable way of farming. This system was cheap for the government which would store the surplus and get a fee from the farmer. All of that changed in the 1970s with Richard Nixon as president. Farmers were told to produce as much corn as possible. The diversity in terms of crops was greatly reduced since most people decided to plant only corn and soybean. The government would provide subsidies depending on the amount of corn you get which means that big farmers were in a better position than small farmers that would lose too much money and would sell a bushel of corn one dollar cheaper than its production price. This change means that farmers had to produce as much corn as possible and the smallest space while keeping the production price really low. The amount of corn produced eventually increased so they can pay their bills, but

    Read More

  • Farm Subsidies

    1200 Words  | 3 Pages

    Agricultural subsidies is a very complex and controversial economic topic today. It will continue to be a hot topic as government continues it. It is largely debated in the United States as well as in other countries. The reason it is so largely debated is because it literally have an effect on the entire world market. Not to mention that the farm has been booming the last 5 to 10 years. This topic also tends to draw strong opinions in our area in particular due to the large agricultural community in our region. However, even within different states there are many supporters as well as opponents to these government subsidies.

    Read More

  • Examination of the Causes of the Food Crisis in The Politics of Hunger: How Illusion and Greed Fan the Food Crisis by Paul Collier

    519 Words  | 2 Pages

    The developed world’s love affair with local/organic farming (peasant farming as Collier describes it) has decreased food production worldwide because it does not use the land efficiently enough as with commercial agriculture companies. It also requires government subsidies that large commercial farming companies do not necessarily need. By increasing commercial farming, the world food supply will inevitably increase over a short period.

    Read More

  • Common Meat To Eat Analysis

    496 Words  | 1 Pages

    The farming approach of corn-fed cows helps the farmers to grow more profits while diminishing the nature and people’s health. Pollan

    Read More

  • Problems of the Food System

    2097 Words  | 5 Pages

    Farmers are essentially the back-bone of the entire food system. Large-scale family farms account for 10% of all farms, but 75% of overall food production, (CSS statistics). Without farmers, there would be no food for us to consume. Big business picked up on this right away and began to control the farmers profits and products. When farmers buy their land, they take out a loan in order to pay for their land and farm house and for the livestock, crops, and machinery that are involved in the farming process. Today, the loans are paid off through contracts with big business corporations. Since big business has such a hold over the farmers, they take advantage of this and capitalize on their crops, commodities, and profits. Farmers are life-long slaves to these b...

    Read More

  • Rising Food Prices

    1504 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...earch and extension, rural infrastructure, and market access for small farmers. Rural investments have been sorely neglected in recent decades, and now is the time to reverse this trend. Farmers in many developing countries are operating in an environment of inadequate infrastructure like roads, electricity, and communications; poor soils; lack of storage and processing capacity; and little or no access to agricultural technologies that could increase their profits and improve their livelihoods. Recent unrest over food prices in a number of countries may tempt policymakers to put the interests of urban consumers over those of rural people, including farmers, but this approach would be shortsighted and counterproductive. Given the scale of investment needed, aid donors should also expand development assistance to agriculture, rural services, and science and technology.

    Read More

More about Subsidy Programs for Farmers

Open Document