ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Ken Cook

Ken Cook is president of Environmental Working Group, a public interest research and advocacy organization known for its Farm Subsidy Database. The author of dozens of articles, opinion pieces and reports on agricultural, public health and environmental topics, "[Cook's] fingerprints can be found on nearly two decades of U.S. farm law" (Omaha World Herald). Read more about Ken.

Craig Cox

Craig Cox is EWG Midwest Vice President. He Mulches from EWG's office in Ames, IA. Prior to EWG, Craig served as Executive Director of the Soil and Water Conservation Society and was Acting USDA Deputy Under-Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment, and Special Assistant to the Chief of USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Michelle Perez

Michelle Perez is EWG's Senior Agriculture Analyst. She has a BA in Biology from Occidental, a Masters from the University of Maryland (UMD) and is finishing up a PhD in agricultural-environmental policy at UMD.

Don Carr

Don Carr is EWG's Press Secretary for agriculture and public lands issues. Prior to EWG, Don worked as a Communications Director for the DNC in his home state of South Dakota and on former Senate Leader Tom Daschle's 2004 reelection campaign.

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« Half of Farm Subsidies Go To Twenty-Two Congressional Districts | << Back to main page | 'Big' Organic? »

66 Percent of U.S. Farmers Report No Gov't Payments

The EWG Farm Subsidy Database has pointed out (as many other sources subsequently have) that farm subsidy payments are highly concentrated among large farms, with 10 percent collecting 73 percent of the money over the past 11 years.

But as this table shows, most U.S. farmers get no government payments at all.

Most of those farmers and ranchers don't want intrusive price and income supports of the sort provided to rice, cotton, corn, wheat and soybean growers.

But many would participate in federal farm conservation programs to protect wildlife, water quality, wetlands, and prime farm land, if, that is, the programs' funds weren't constantly being cut to preserve commodity subsidies most farmers don't receive--or even qualify for.

Posted by Cook on December 24, 2006 2:16 PM |

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