Posted on 09/09/2001 10:59:50 PM PDT by TheOtherOne
Universities, Government Agencies Receiving Taxpayer-Funded Farm Aid
Published: Sep 10, 2001
URBANA, Ill. (AP) - When it comes to harvesting subsidy checks from the federal government, few farms in this state are doing better than the University of Illinois. Agriculture Department records show the state's flagship university and its foundation got $710,000 last year from a network of federal subsidy programs meant to protect the agriculture industry from the perils of volatile commodity markets. An AP review of $27 billion worth of subsidy checks sent out in fiscal year 2000 shows the university is not the only government or educational institution collecting hefty payments. More than 1,200 cities, schools, prisons and universities combined to collect at least $23 million in farm aid. In some cases, government or university farms were among the top recipients in their states because they did not have to abide by the payment caps that apply to privately owned farms. The Montana Department of Natural Resources took in $5.4 million in subsidies for crops grown on state trust land. Montana's constitution sets aside land in each township for the state to generate revenue to support public schools. Montana sharecrops much of that land, splitting the crop with tenant farmers at harvest. So, just like any other farm, the state is eligible for aid on its crops. "It goes directly to the schools, which is certainly a beneficial purpose," said Dave Mousel, supervisor of the Montana division that oversees the agricultural ground. Such explanations were common among college and government recipients. Dennis Gehrt, the University of Illinois' endowment farm manager, said he sees nothing wrong if the money goes to agriculture-related programs. "We don't want to own large chunks of Illinois farmland, but these endowments support good causes," Gehrt said. "It supports the mission of a public school." Critics said that while farm policy does not specifically preclude government bodies or educational institutions from collecting checks, the program was never meant to prop up those kinds of farms. "By what possible criteria does that make sense to provide that kind of subsidy?" said Ken Cook, president of the Environmental Working Group, which has published several reports attacking the crop subsidy system. "I'm sure they say they do wonderful things, but there has to be another way to support those purposes and direct this money to the people who really need it - farmers," Cook said. More than 200 colleges and universities, many of them taxpayer-funded institutions, followed Illinois' lead. They collected a combined $6.3 million in subsidies on research plots and other land last year. Prison systems in at least 14 states got subsidy payments for crops tended by convicts. Louisiana Prison Enterprises is charged with cutting the cost of incarcerating criminals, and officials there said crop subsidies help them do that. Prison Enterprises runs several for-profit industries, where inmates are kept busy making products the state sells to offset its corrections budget. That includes farms, where prisoners toil for pennies an hour growing crops. The state says its farming business generated about $10 million in sales for prison enterprises last year. To that, the agency added about $231,000 in crop subsidies. "It would be foolish not to do that," said director Charles Kleinpeter. "It's very difficult to farm profitably in any environment, but we have expenses that private sector farmers don't have because of the security concerns and work schedules." AP-ES-09-10-01 0145EDT
Louisiana Prison Enterprises is charged with cutting the cost of incarcerating criminals, and officials there said crop subsidies help them do that. Prison Enterprises runs several for-profit industries, where inmates are kept busy making products the state sells to offset its corrections budget.
That includes farms, where prisoners toil for pennies an hour growing crops. The state says its farming business generated about $10 million in sales for prison enterprises last year.
Guess who is helping put the small farmer out of business?
this, and all similar operations, are outrageous, no state agency has any legitimate business competing with any private sector entity, whether it's crops or widgets
if they want to lease their inmates to private farmers or any other business, at market rates, the conflict is removed
as for the larger issue of subsidies going to universities or other non-"farmers", the whole problem is solved by eliminating what shouldn't be there in the first place -- the subsidies
The prices are kept so low that the farmer needs a subsidy to keep producing. In many cases, the exporter receives a subsidy in the form of government grain. It is no secret that the largest privately owned business in the United States is not in the oil business or manufacturing but in the grain exporting business.
Meanwhile you saw first hand the plight of the people who need this money the most.
One of the best kept secrets of the farm subsidy issue is the subsidization to exporters in the form of export enhancement or free government grain.
the export enhancement program is not paid in grain, it is paid in cash, the total authorized for fy2002 is less than $500 million, a tiny drop in the subsidy bucket, chickenfeed, so to speak, and it's no "secret"
The grain markets are so monopolized that the exporters control the price that they pay the farmer.
baloney
world prices are what they are, they are not "controlled" by cargill, et al, and they would all be higher if many stupid governments around the world didn't subsidize their farmers
The prices are kept so low that the farmer needs a subsidy to keep producing.
the only thing keeping grain prices lower than they otherwise would be is overproduction caused by subsidies
if those that can't make it on an unsubsidized basis went out of business, the rest would be fine, prices would no longer be depressed by the subsidized production
In many cases, the exporter receives a subsidy in the form of government grain.
repeat after me -- CASH, not grain
most of the product handed out by the ccc is stuff like butter and cheese for domestic and foreign giveaway programs, which should be done away with, they are the result of dairy subsidies, and the underlying dairy subsidies should also be done away with
It is no secret that the largest privately owned business in the United States is not in the oil business or manufacturing but in the grain exporting business.
cargill doesn't keep the subsidies, the stupid export enhancement payments wind up either in --
1) the farmer's pockets because cargill or whoever wouldn't have bought the grain at the price they paid in the absence of the subsidy, and/or
2) in the pockets of the people who ultimately consume the grain they sell, because they are selling into an artificially depressed (subsidized) foreign market at prices below what they paid
the export enhancement program is utter lunacy, we are paying to try to penetrate subsidized markets when we should be letting the foreign subsidizers bankrupt themselves
ALL of the rest of our subsidy programs, the direct farmer subsidies, which are collectively 50 times larger than the e.e.p., are also lunacy, and do nothing other than raise prices to consumers and keep famers under the government's thumb
farm subsidies are leftover socialist "solutions" from the '30s and need to be completely gotten rid of, and the sooner the better
That would be twenty five billion dollars. Direct farm payments this year were nine and a half billion. Where do you come up with these figures of yours? Food stamps are a bigger expenditure than farm subsidies in the Ag Dept. I will admit that subsidies should be ended but I want something to eat so it has to be done gradually.
at the usda site is the following --
The Export Enhancement Program (EEP) is designed to help U.S. farm products meet competition from subsidizing countries, especially the European Union. Under the program, the U.S. Department of Agriculture pays cash to exporters as bonuses, allowing them to sell U.S. agricultural products in targeted countries at prices below the exporter's costs of acquiring them.
Receiving the Bonus: The bonus is paid to the U.S. exporter in cash. The CCC determines the bonus payment by multiplying the CCC bonus specified in the agreement by the net quantity of the commodity exported. Once an exporter furnishes USDA with evidence that the specified commodity has been exported to the target country under the terms of the agreement, the exporter can request payment of the bonus.
the above is not about how the program is budgeted, it's about how the program actually operates, and i don't know what could be any clearer
If Cargill doesn't keep the subsidies what does it do with them
already explained in the previous post, but try this --
if cargill buys corn at a u.s. market price of say $2.20/bu and sells it for export for $2.25/bu, they make their 5 cents/bu
if cargill buys corn at $2.20 to sell it into a foreign market where the domestic subsidized price is $1.75 and they get 50 cents/bu approved by usda, they wind up with $2.25 and make their 5 cents
cargill doesn't care, they're in the same position in either deal, and our tax dollar subsidy went to the foreign consumers, not to cargill
It is called cash flow, bud
what are you talking about, e.e.p. is all done on an individual sale-by-sale basis, and, obviously all e.e.p. payments are part of cash flow, the question is how they get the payments and where the benefit from the payment goes
Who is subsidizing the foreign markets?
the various foreign governments, who are just as stupid as the u.s. government is
Farmer subsidies are fifty times bigger than the EEP. That would be twenty five billion dollars. Direct farm payments this year were nine and a half billion. Where do you come up with these figures of yours?
at the rural policy research institute site is the following --
USDA Direct Commodity-Related Payments to Farms, Per Farm: These payments totaled $16.83 billion in fiscal 2000 and accounted for over three-quarters of all direct payments and grants to farmers in that year. The mean value per farm, per county was $10,400
plus the "emergency" farm bill for 2000 at 8.3 billion, and there's the 25 billion, give or take
regardless of whether farmer payments in a particular year are 40 times or 50 times or 60 times larger, e.e.p. is small potatoes
I will admit that subsidies should be ended but I want something to eat so it has to be done gradually.
finally, we agree on something
i'm not gonna hold my breath waiting for subsidies to disappear
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