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EWG Farm Subsidy Database UpdateApril 14, 2008 Taxpayers sent $13.4 billion in farm subsidies to more than 1.4 million recipients in 2006, according to a new update of the Environmental Working Group's Farm Subsidy Database website. The new data bring the 12-year subsidy total tracked online by EWG to more than $177 billion. Over that period, 10 percent of the beneficiaries collected 75 percent of all subsidy payments. The EWG database update comes as a House-Senate conference committee struggles to meet an April 18 deadline for reauthorizing a new omnibus farm bill. By far the largest share of farm subsidies in 2006 was the $11.2 billion (84 percent) in various commodity payments designed to prop up farmers' incomes. Payments for conservation practices on farms totaled just over $2 billion, mostly under the Conservation Reserve Program that pays farmers to plant grass or trees on fragile cropland under ten-year contracts. Another $160 million was disbursed in disaster aid. (Last year Congress passed legislation to provide disaster aid retroactively for crop and livestock losses in earlier years, including 2006). According to USDA, while it was a drop of more than $18 billion from 2005 net farm income of $77.1 billion, in 2006 "farm operators earned farm income of $59 billion, a level exceeded only by the 3 preceding years." Farm income shot up to a projected $88.7 billion in 2007 and is projected to increase another 4.1 percent in 2008, when it is expected to reach $92.3 billion. The 19 states currently represented on the Senate Agriculture Committee collected $105 billion in farm subsidies over the past 12 years (59 percent of the U.S. total). The 45 congressional districts currently represented on the House Agriculture Committee accounted for 74.6 billion in farm subsidies over that period (42 percent of the national total). Top Beneficiaries in 2006Plantation-scale cotton and rice operations in the South dominated subsidy payments in 2006. Sixty-five entities collected more than one million dollars each that year. USDA has not yet made available detailed information tracking all subsidy program benefits to individuals for payment year 2006, as required by Section 1614 of the 2002 farm bill. As a consequence, in this update EWG is unable to assign benefits that pass through cooperatives and certain other business entities to individuals, as we did provided in the Policy Analysis Database published in June, 2007. (Click here and here for more information comparing the databases.) Direct Payment Subsidies, 2006Over a million recipients collected direct payment subsidies for crops in 2006. Direct payment subsidies are provided to farmers regardless of commodity prices or farm income levels. Despite record prices for some crops and for net income for subsidized crops, and projections of similar market and income conditions over the next five years, Congress is poised spend another $26 billion on direct payment subsidies under the 2008 farm subsidy bill. Like other crop subsidies, direct payments are heavily concentrated in the hands of the very largest farm operations. A total of 151 recipients collect at least $250,000 in direct payments in 2006. Top States: Half of All Subsidies to Just Nine StatesTexas emerges as the top beneficiary of farm subsidies over the last 12 years, collecting over $16.2 billion. It is followed by Iowa ($15.9 billion), Illinois ($13.2 billion), Nebaraska ($10.4 billion) and Minnesota ($10.2 billion). Five states accounted for over one-third of all subsidy payments, and half of the subsidies were absorbed by 9 states, all in the Midwest, South or Great Plains regions. Top Congressional Districts: 22 Districts Collect Half the SubsidyOf the nation's 435 congressional districts, just 22 account for over half of all farm bill subsidies. Top Programs For Subsidies: Corn is KingOver the past twelve years, taxpayers have spent $56 billion on corn subsidies paid to over 1.5 million recipients, making it the top crop for federal assistance. Wheat subsidies ranked second, which paid $22 billion to more than 1.3 million recipients, followed closely by cotton subsidies, which provided $21 billion to over 247,00 recipients over the period. The Conservation Reserve Program ranked fourth, paying over $20 billion to 768,180 recipients. |
