Farm Subsidies Go to Anti-Federal Government Candidates

None of the five GOP candidates for agriculture commissioner have much good to say about the federal government and its intrusion on state affairs. But that aversion didn't extend to thousands of dollars they each received in federal farm subsidy payments during the last 20 years.

The five Republican candidates received more than $1.3 million in farm subsidies from 1995 to 2012, according to a database compiled by the Environmental Working Group, an organization in Washington, D.C., that advocates for better agriculture policies. They got money for a variety of reasons, including disaster assistance and routine programs that pay farmers if crop prices drop below certain thresholds for products like cotton or wheat.

The numbers do not include the value of heavily subsidized crop insurance policies that farmers have access to, so the amount of government assistance they received could be larger. In addition, some candidates have received other subsidies under their business names.

Despite having benefited from federal agricultural policy in the past decades, and acknowledging the importance of government assistance to farmers, some candidates said they would not have voted for the new farm bill, which President Obama signed last week.

More at http://www.texastribune.org/2014/02/14/farm-subisides-go-anti-federal-govt-candidiates/ .