Posted on 09/09/2018 8:16:22 AM PDT by bkopto
In 1998, I inherited a farm of 160 acres (one-quarter section) from my dad’s oldest brother. The farm came from his wife’s family original homestead in KS. My uncle and aunt had no children so that’s how I received the farm in the will. They had never physically farmed it and it was on a share-crop arrangement with a local farmer. I continued that arrangement for the next 14 years that I owned the farm.
Not quite half of the ground was planted to wheat which has a price support in the various farm bills over those years. Crop insurance was also subsidized in the law. In order to get a farmer to actually work the ground, I had to participate in those USDA programs. Across those years, my recollection is that I received price support payments 2-3 times and the insurance paid for weather-related crop damage twice. There were a couple of years where the price of wheat was really good and the yield was also nice so the payoff was rewarding. It was certainly way better than the measly subsidies and insurance checks.
BTW - the term “actively farming” means you are participating in the potential for gain or loss because you are paying for the inputs, even at a share-crop arrangement level which was 1/3 from me, 2/3 from the guy working the ground. The only cost I paid fully was the taxes.
“Defenders say crop subsidies are a small part of revenue“
Then they shouldn’t object to a small cut. Small percentages can still be very large numbers.
L
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