http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0909-02.htm
Published on Tuesday,
September 9, 2003 by Reuters
Biggest Growers Pocket 71 Percent of Farm
Subsidies
by Charles Abbott
QUOTE:
"The Environmental Working Group study showed that 71 percent
of payments went to the biggest farmers -- far higher than the
belief among agricultural experts that large farmers received
about two-thirds of the money. Large operators often control
thousands of acres and account for a large part of crop and
livestock output.
WASHINGTON - The biggest American farmers received 71 percent
of
U.S. farm subsidies since 1995, environmentalists said on Tuesday
in a report that could fuel the fight in Congress for tighter
limits
on farm supports.
Activists say mammoth
payments to large operators gives them the cash
to out-bid their smaller neighbors for land and equipment. The
result
is higher operating costs, they say, but no improvement in farm
income.
According to the Environmental
Working Group, the top 10 percent of
U.S. growers collected an average $278,932 a year. Their share
of
payments steadily grew from 1995, when the elite group of farmers
got 55 percent of government payments.
Billions of dollars
are funneled to American grain, cotton and
soybean growers each year. Farmers and ranchers also receive
federal money to idle environmentally sensitive land or to control
manure run-off from fields and feedlots.
"The ability of
the family farmer to survive and make a living
is plummeting," said Chuck Hassebrook of the Center for Rural
Affairs in Walthill, Nebraska. "Farm programs are doing as
much
to subsidize large farmers as to drive smaller farmers out of
business."
Iowa Republican Charles
Grassley planned to ask for a Senate vote
in coming weeks for a "hard" cap on farm subsidies,
now set at
$360,000 a year but easily circumvented. An aide said Grassley
wanted a limit in the range of $275,000-$300,000 that would end
ways to exceed the limit.
"It's not surprising
to me that concentration is increasing,"
Grassley told Reuters. "Hopefully this information will prove
it's time to act and enact legitimate, reasonable payment limits."
The Environmental Working
Group, a Washington-based activist
organization, released its report as the World Trade Organization
was meeting in Mexico to discuss how to cut farm subsidies in
rich
nations, which spend a combined $300 billion annually on their
growers.
The United States maintains
its farm subsidies of about $18.7 billion
this fiscal year fall within the WTO rules.
The Environmental Working
Group study showed that 71 percent of
payments went to the biggest farmers -- far higher than the belief
among agricultural experts that large farmers received about
two-thirds of the money. Large operators often control thousands
of acres and account for a large part of crop and livestock output.
Environmental Working
Group said the higher figure became apparent
when it totaled payments for the eight years at $114 billion and
divided for the 2.8 million recipients.
"Payments are
more concentrated over the eight-year period than
for individual years because the largest recipients tend to receive
payments every year," it said in its report.
Riceland Foods Inc.,
a 9,000-member cooperative in Arkansas,
was the largest subsidy recipient in 2002 with $110 million.
The subsidy list indirectly
included Bernard Ebbers, the former
chief executive of telephone company WorldCom, which filed the
largest bankruptcy case in history last year. Ebbers was part-owner
of Joshua Timber Co. LLC, which got $44,761 since 1995, mostly
for land conservation. Ebbers was not shown as receiving money
directly.
"We're not suggesting
big is bad," said Ken Cook, head of
Environmental Working Group. He argues that land stewardship
programs should get 25 percent of farm subsidy money -- a much
larger share than now allotted. Stewardship money is spread far
more evenly than crop subsidies, he said, and is available to
all
farmers, not just those growing wheat, corn, barley, cotton, rice
and oilseeds such as soybeans.
Environmental Working
Group said it would make its figures,
based on U.S. Agriculture Department records, available on
the Internet at http://www.ewg.org/farm2/home.php
Copyright 2003 Reuters
Ltd
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