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Welfare Farming: As noisy scandals whirl about the Obama administration, Congress is quietly putting finishing touches on a $1 trillion farm bill. The truth is, far from being a backstop to troubled family farmers, the U.S. federal farm budget has become a form of crony capitalism for the farm belt, welfare for the already rich.
The goal of the subsidies is to raise prices of the things you buy. So expect higher prices in your neighborhood supermarket, thanks to this bill.
What’s worse, our farm programs are designed today to enrich a handful of rich, very large agribusinesses. And despite the financial meltdown, big farms are booming.
According to the USDA, the top six years for farm income over the past three decades have all come since 2004. Farm income will hit $128 billion this year, the USDA estimates, more than double its level as recently as 2006. This year, income is forecast to rise nearly 14%, the USDA says.
On a more basic level, the average commercial farm operator netted total household income of $205,215 in 2011, the most recent year data available, and had a household net worth of just under $2...