Does Your Local Farm Receive Subsidies From the Government

[JohnyMac]

Ran across this link to the DofA farm subsidies payouts. Just put in your zip code and the list will come up. Click on the farm/person and a list by year and why the moneys were paid out. Have fun 

http://farm.ewg.org/

By the way, I am not saying it is bad or good just interesting. 

[Well-Prepared Witch]

Funny you should post this.  I was thinking about subsidies this weekend.  Part of me thinks the government should stay out of it - same as with corporations.  Don't tell people what to grow or "encourage" them with subsidies.  The other part of me thinks that a) that'd make us entirely unable to compete in a global market, 'cause you know other countries won't stop even if we do, and b) how better to have us growing things that will grow our economy - would we rather the jack-booted thugs burn the crops that a farmer wants to grow, but has no financial disinterest to growing (i.e. how raisins are currently treated).  I don't know what the answer is. 

[crudos]

If subsidies help keep the small, local farmer in business through crop disasters, price fluctuations and big Ag hijinks, then I'm good with it.

[Well-Prepared Witch]

That's a good point - though I will say that most government involvement in small farming is ridiculous.  They make the small farmers do the same stuff that big ag does, like the reams of paperwork, processing at a certain speed (so USDA inspectors get pissed off and refuse to inspect small abattoirs that do one animal at a time because they take so much longer than a place that does 400 animals a day), etc.