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TexasTowelie

(112,204 posts)
Sun Jun 4, 2017, 12:51 AM Jun 2017

Farmers decry plans to cut farm subsidies

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Farm groups and some members of Congress from farm states are decrying proposed cuts to crop insurance and other safety net programs for farmers included in President Donald Trump's budget.

The proposed cuts come even as farmers are facing their fourth straight year of falling income, and could particularly affect farm states such as Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska that helped Trump win the November election.

"Clearly, this budget fails agriculture and rural America," American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall said in a statement.

The proposed budget would cap the amount of money the U.S. government provides to help farmers pay insurance premiums and eliminate insurance coverage for lost revenue when crop prices and per-acre yields fall. That would reduce the federal insurance program's budget by $28 billion over 10 years.

Read more: http://www.dentonrc.com/news/nation-and-world/2017/06/03/farmers-decry-plans-cut-farm-subsidies

34 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Farmers decry plans to cut farm subsidies (Original Post) TexasTowelie Jun 2017 OP
Reap what you sow... Scurrilous Jun 2017 #1
My exact words also. Doreen Jun 2017 #8
Yep. Nay Jun 2017 #25
Bootstraps and all that. Kittycow Jun 2017 #2
BS murielm99 Jun 2017 #3
"most of them are...." ? Your enemy is clearly not DU. WinkyDink Jun 2017 #7
I was appalled when I read this Samantha Jun 2017 #11
Fantastic to meet a Democratic Farmer!!!! bresue Jun 2017 #12
My father and his siblings were managing murielm99 Jun 2017 #18
Nobody Is Trashing the Agricultural Community Leith Jun 2017 #13
I'm glad you spoke up for farmers, Murielm99, Hortensis Jun 2017 #17
Yeah. Starve the freaking "Beast" Achilleaze Jun 2017 #21
Are they tired of"winning" yet? calguy Jun 2017 #4
Trump to farmers: calguy Jun 2017 #5
Mulvaney would ask, why should non-farming WinkyDink Jun 2017 #6
You are so right! bresue Jun 2017 #10
The most harmful and insidious aspect to his language is the implication that "the other" is NOT a WinkyDink Jun 2017 #28
Taking away their Medicaid.... bresue Jun 2017 #9
I wonder what Grassley is thinking now of his favorite president and ag! bresue Jun 2017 #14
Farm subsidies have long been another form of corporate welfare. PoindexterOglethorpe Jun 2017 #15
I agree with you. except I took the money and voted Democrat. Jim Beard Jun 2017 #16
My grandfather was a strong Rublican farmer until JFK bresue Jun 2017 #32
Now to be fair, farm subsidies are both very necessary Hortensis Jun 2017 #19
I doubt that you know one fucking thing murielm99 Jun 2017 #20
Read Black Adder's post below. PoindexterOglethorpe Jun 2017 #33
Corporate welfare. I like to call it what it is A FORM OF SOCIALISM. They are "Socialist Takers!" TheBlackAdder Jun 2017 #22
Agreed!!! bresue Jun 2017 #30
am I mistaken to think onethatcares Jun 2017 #23
I always looked at it as those cuts also hurting farmers. Kittycow Jun 2017 #26
Well, shucks. That's what y'all voted for. Vinca Jun 2017 #24
Elections have consequences, you idiots. CanonRay Jun 2017 #27
Eat your red hats dalton99a Jun 2017 #29
As a whole we live in an idiotic society. sarcasmo Jun 2017 #31
Ok by me AwakeAtLast Jun 2017 #34

murielm99

(30,741 posts)
3. BS
Sun Jun 4, 2017, 01:23 AM
Jun 2017

If you think all farmers are repiggies, think again. While most of them are in my area, we have many in my county who are Democrats and activists. And in Minnesota, where my family comes from, they are nearly all Democrats.

If you think all farms are huge agribusinesses, think again. My area has predominately small farmers who need the subsidies. The same is true in Iowa, where we also own a small amount of property, formerly my husband's family farm. And falling incomes are no joke.

Mexico is our third largest trading partner. They are threatening to buy their corn from other countries in South America. Considering the way 45 has treated them, I can understand the threat. If the agricultural economy crashes in the Midwest, it has implications for the rest of the economy that you have not considered.

I am sick and tired of seeing the agricultural community trashed on this website. I have a feeling you know nothing about it, or you would not be making such snide comments. And this commentary comes from many of the same people who want to pander to the white working class males who do not respect our values!

Proud family farmer and third generation Democrat here.

Samantha

(9,314 posts)
11. I was appalled when I read this
Sun Jun 4, 2017, 01:59 AM
Jun 2017

At some point, someone needs to speak up and tell Donald Trump it is not all about the Federal government and its budget. And specifically, it is not about cutting legitimate programs in order to fund a huge tax break to the top 2 percenters.

The Federal Government, unlike state governments, is not required to be balanced. It's responsibility is to step up to the plate and assist states and their citizens in solving problems such as the one you described. We need our farmers and we need them to be able to produce. I am with you, sick of the agricultural community getting trashed. And if the deficit is such a big problem, cut the bloat out of the defense department.

Sam

bresue

(1,007 posts)
12. Fantastic to meet a Democratic Farmer!!!!
Sun Jun 4, 2017, 02:10 AM
Jun 2017

Truly I am. My son who is also a Rublican farmer and voted for idiot, was born in 87', during Reagon trickle-down economics. He doesn't remember all the small time farmers who went under at the time from high gas prices, high interest rates, and low markets. I had one uncle who had completely paid off one farm, decided to buy the old homestead farm with a high interest rate right before the crash, and ended up losing everything. I have many more relatives who lost everything and it wasn't until Willie Nelson and Greenwood did those big benefits that brought attention to the farmers' plight. And then Clinton came in 92 which really brought them out of it and saved the farmers.

murielm99

(30,741 posts)
18. My father and his siblings were managing
Sun Jun 4, 2017, 06:12 AM
Jun 2017

the family farm for their mother during the eighties, when so many farmers went under. This was in Minnesota. They managed to hang on, because they did not fall for the high interest rates and the refinancing scams.

I don't know what happened to the family farm. I will have to ask one of my few living uncles. I know that one of my uncles farmed it until he died. I think they sold to a small farmer in the area. Each of them may have received a small profit from the sale.

I appreciate the support I have gotten from the few DU members who may understand a bit about farming and commodities markets.

Leith

(7,809 posts)
13. Nobody Is Trashing the Agricultural Community
Sun Jun 4, 2017, 02:13 AM
Jun 2017

We're expressing our opinion of the ones who voted for rethugs and the shitgibbon. You said that most of them are Republican. Why should we give condolences to voters who claimed to want this?

People don't seem to know where to direct their anger or frustration any more. If most farmers haven't figured out which political party is helping them and which is hurting them by now, perhaps they should look for a different line of work.

My sympathies are with the ones who vote people in office who will help. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the majority.

Hortensis

(58,785 posts)
17. I'm glad you spoke up for farmers, Murielm99,
Sun Jun 4, 2017, 05:59 AM
Jun 2017

and provided good information. Please do it more often -- in the spirit of enlightening and inviting discussion?

As you must know, almost every community is being trashed here right now, not just farmers. Many angry people ran for their verbal AK-47s and are busy hosing whole communities on full automatic. Deplorable, but firing into the circle won't calm them down.

Achilleaze

(15,543 posts)
21. Yeah. Starve the freaking "Beast"
Sun Jun 4, 2017, 06:36 AM
Jun 2017

Then pull yourselves up by your own freaking republican boot laces. What could possibly go wrong.

Or, maybe you should think this through. You voted for the republican Draft-Dodger-in-Chief, Comrade Casino, and his republican Cabal of Colluding Comrades. They promised to stomp around like angry dogs, and to take out the US government, which has helped you out for so many years.

Maybe voting for radical, short-sighted, anti-American republican wankers was not so smart?


 

WinkyDink

(51,311 posts)
28. The most harmful and insidious aspect to his language is the implication that "the other" is NOT a
Sun Jun 4, 2017, 10:34 AM
Jun 2017

tax-payer.

I had a lot of experience with that attitude as a public-school teacher.

bresue

(1,007 posts)
9. Taking away their Medicaid....
Sun Jun 4, 2017, 01:56 AM
Jun 2017

And I can say that, because my son is a farmer...and guess who he voted for!!!!

Prices are falling...but it is not necessarily from Obama...but consumers want organic, graze fed, or natural food products. Europe already has banned a lot of our farm products because of it.

And my son has gotten into a rut...doing the same thing year after year and not wanting to search or to try anything new.

If my son is hurting, I have no empathy...I yelled my thoughts before the election. Now, maybe they will believe me.

PoindexterOglethorpe

(25,857 posts)
15. Farm subsidies have long been another form of corporate welfare.
Sun Jun 4, 2017, 04:25 AM
Jun 2017

Paying people not to grow crops? Really?

I keep on learning of staunchly Republican farmers whose main source of income is farm subsidies. What exactly is wrong with this picture?

These are people who are fiercely opposed to all forms of welfare, as they see it. They don't think anyone should get disability, food stamps, or Medicaid. Well, if they feel that way, then they should likewise be happy to give up their government support. If not, then understand that those other things are needed by people.

It's the hypocrisy.

Hortensis

(58,785 posts)
19. Now to be fair, farm subsidies are both very necessary
Sun Jun 4, 2017, 06:12 AM
Jun 2017

and, inevitably, corrupted and abused by well-organized special interests.

But our own lives literally depend on maintaining a reliable food supply for over 300 million people. And there are huge time and uncertainty factors that require large safety margins. The potatoes we eat in one day will take months to replace, far longer if fields aren't available to grow them or any of dozens of issues arise to interrupt production.

Who knows? If rump does kick over this table, when we get back in power that'll set us up to do more profound adjustments than would have been workable otherwise. For instance, the prices of fresh vegetables have risen unhealthily, discouraging purchase, while the corn and soy that go into soft drinks are subsidized.

Yes to good government. And that definitely includes managing our food supply so that we always have one.

murielm99

(30,741 posts)
20. I doubt that you know one fucking thing
Sun Jun 4, 2017, 06:17 AM
Jun 2017

about the main source of income for farmers. When is the last time you spoke to a farmer? And stereotyping the agricultural community is akin to racism. Do you know anything about rural poverty and hunger? Do you know about our meth problems, and rural gangs? If not, then understand those other things are needed by RURAL people, too!

PoindexterOglethorpe

(25,857 posts)
33. Read Black Adder's post below.
Sun Jun 4, 2017, 12:32 PM
Jun 2017

I'm not talking about those who are poor in rural areas. I'm talking about the farmers who take money to not grow crops, vote Republican, hold themselves superior to all who are on Welfare or SSDI. I'm talking about the hypocrisy.

Someone who brews meth is hardly an innocent victim of circumstances. That person has made a choice to do something not only illegal and dangerous, but something that very specifically destroys communities.

TheBlackAdder

(28,201 posts)
22. Corporate welfare. I like to call it what it is A FORM OF SOCIALISM. They are "Socialist Takers!"
Sun Jun 4, 2017, 07:14 AM
Jun 2017

.


I've given up trying to converse with these people at a level they don't understand.


They keep complaining about the threat of socialism, marxism and communism, when they are a taker of government / public money to form and control the deliverables of goods. That's an aspect of socialism, and those who take this money are socialists!


This is the same as anyone who uses or used the US Military, defense contractors, and the like. Socialists.


These fuckers like to complain that those on the "public dole," those who "need a handout" are "socialist takers."

Yet, these same people, who receive government checks for services provided are dependent on the government, especially when their good are purchases to help their local economies, keep floundering industries alive, or to benefit local politicians.


If they love the "free economy" as much as they do, CUT THEM LOOSE! Let capitalism decide their fate!


Note: I had a small farm. I wasn't plugged into any programs, but as a citizen of this country, I know the other functions it provides and see the benefits that the US government and taxpayers have done for the farming community to protect it during times of strife.


.

bresue

(1,007 posts)
30. Agreed!!!
Sun Jun 4, 2017, 11:02 AM
Jun 2017

Many times the ones that are complaining about Government programs, are utilizing these programs the most.

For example, my Rublican father-in-law had a large farm and 30% of land at times was placed in CRP. Forgive my forgetfulness, but as I remember it, farmers would lock so many acres into a 10 year program to not use the land and be paid annually a set amount for each acre. He then could work a side job of house constructions while leaving the land alone.

And a side note, these public payments are posted on the USDA website I believe...so people can actually see individual farmers payments.

My calling out hypocrisy on his practices is that he had several home rentals approved by HUD. He would place his family members into these rentals homes and charge the government. All the while the government was paying to keep his family members, he would squirrel away the money and after he died, the property and money went to that family member.

He did this repeatedly to game the government, but stood behind strong religious faith to portray that he was a devoted Christian. Paid his tithes, went to church 3x a week, and prayed every morning after a bible reading. (No pun against true Christians). He had no financial problems in the 80s...he was set up well!

onethatcares

(16,168 posts)
23. am I mistaken to think
Sun Jun 4, 2017, 07:47 AM
Jun 2017

that cuts to SNAP, food stamps and school lunch programs are also ways subsidies are being cut.

Kittycow

(2,396 posts)
26. I always looked at it as those cuts also hurting farmers.
Sun Jun 4, 2017, 08:27 AM
Jun 2017

The domino effect of less demand for their product.


I always feel torn about gloating that trump voters are getting what they asked for since all of us go down with the ship, not just the imbeciles.

Vinca

(50,273 posts)
24. Well, shucks. That's what y'all voted for.
Sun Jun 4, 2017, 08:07 AM
Jun 2017

So do your part - starve your family - to "Make America Great Again." Imagine! You'll be just like the poor kid whose mom lost the food stamps you hate.

sarcasmo

(23,968 posts)
31. As a whole we live in an idiotic society.
Sun Jun 4, 2017, 11:05 AM
Jun 2017


I would bet 90% of farmers voted for Dolt45. 90% of coal miners voted for Dolt45. Now both groups are shocked Dolt45 is screwing them over. Idiots.

AwakeAtLast

(14,125 posts)
34. Ok by me
Mon Jun 5, 2017, 12:53 AM
Jun 2017

I come from eight generations of farmers in this country. Where I'm from, farmers are now building mega-homes and buying tractors and implements for each field! Add in a few (not just one!) semi, and I think you get the picture that they don't need those government handouts.

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