I think the data base is great. I bought a farm in ND in 2003. In 2005 I recieved EQIP cost share on some conservation measures but I can't find my name anywhere on the site. Thanks Scott

Some data for EQIP are not yet in the database--we received it late last year. But you'll show up on the list when we add those data in, probably in the next month or so.

First of all, I agree that subsidies cater to large scale stuff. In all facets, the wealthiest get the best USDA deals. I still have a problem with who the conservation subsidies go to. Here’s an example. In Coleman Co. Tx., where I grew up, a wealthy lawyer moved in and bought a large chunk of land. The database shows Lawyer P. Jensen used $62,500 taxpayer dollars in one year, 1999. This chunk of change is listed as “emergency conservation – drought.” I’m guessing it was a 50/50 cost share project. He could easily afford to match it. I’m guessing the project was a huge dam or some other type of land improvement because this guy is just a land jockey. I could probably go back home and do some prying and find out what the “emergency” was. This baffles me. Jensen now lives on his game ranch in the next county. After helping himself to a USDA conservation handout, he sold his Coleman Co. property for a huge profit. He is not a farmer, even though the database shows he collected almost $58,000 worth of commodity and disaster payments. This is just one of my follies.

I just hope future conservation payments do not go to the kind of landowners seen on this website www.ranchandhuntingland.com As advertised, the 1056 acre game ranch includes 440 head of exotics, native deer, and imported deer. This stocking rate figures to be exactly one animal per 2.4 acres. This is my native county and I know it is severely overstocking. Well, they are pouring tons of processed feed to the domesticated game. These days, in Texas, wildlife is big business and hunting is only for the elite. Well, in Texas, high fenced game properties(not ranches, by God) receive the same property tax exemption as real ag lands – and that’s another story….I’m just saying that I hope conservation subsidies don’t get out hand like the commodity/disaster subsidies have. Also, we have enough absentee landowners without the government helping bring more of them to our identity lost rural communities. All types of subsidies and state legislation have played a part in that.

I don’t accept subsidies, but I’ve learned that conservation subsidies do not cater to me. If I want EQIP, then I’ve got to find a grass lease somewhere to move my sheep to. USDA says to defer livestock from the area where the project work is done. I’m small scale, so I don’t have large acreages or pastures in which to defer livestock to. Finding a grass lease is next to impossible in my area. Either my stock would mess up their farm subsidy/insurance or it would mess up ones deer feeding operation.

I say cut all subsidies in half and let's see what happens.

Irrigated agriculture in places were rivers do not run, needs to be taxed out of existence. Our tax dollars should then be used to restore river eco systems

Subsidy?
Would you help me sweat a bit and help pay for grass seed and trees which are to provide for positive long term advantages for our planet?

Maybe the U>S citizen needs to starve for a while like europe and england did during WWII to appreciate what the American farmer does for them. Why hurt large farms for giving you the best and cheapest food in the world. When farmers can't set their own prices for what they grow, they need some kind of guarantee of income. If subsidies aren't the answer, what is? In the mean time, until we are at least able to profit from farming the old fashioned way,(marketplace) it woulkd at least be nice to cover expenses!! I guess we could do as Big Al Gore wants and we could import all our food.

Interesting site, but I still argue that the American consumer is being subsidized everytime they go to the grocery store. I'd also like to see you post welfare recipients and the amount each receives since that is also part of the USDA budget.

I grew up in the Red River Valley of MN. Childhood friends who still farm in the area tell me about how they just returned from Mexico, then snowmobiling in Wyoming or skiing in Montana and will go back out just one more time this year before they buy a new Suburban. I can't afford that. It makes me ill.

I live in the heart of the corn belt and farmed actively from 1978 to 1995. Subsidies during that time frame were essentially non existent and nowhere near what they are today. Despite all of the non stop complaining, farmers are the wealthiest segment of our society, due in part to our tax dollars going to their mailboxes. I say let market forces prevail, no other independent business receives subsidies like farmers. Either you know how to make money or you get out of the business. It shouldn't be up to the tax payer to provide a subsidy to get your business afloat. It's high time farmers learn how to swim and if they can't.....let them sink.

Well, one little area, in Bentleyville, PA...lots of subsidies to many people! One recipient has over $230,000, and he has just hired a family of Mexicans, provided them a two-story house, pay checks, and--I bet they are ILLEGAL ALIENS, aka criminals! Talk about greed and working the system!

I remember the days of farming when there were no subsidies. It was like a roll of the dice. Some years you made money, some years you lost. However the situation now has changed to almost a NO LOSE proposition. There are too many of the Big guys feeding at the public trough. When I go back to my home State I see new cars,new pickups not one but 2,3 new $100,000 tractors,parked in the front yard. Its time to cut the cord and let the farmers get back to farming instead of figuring out how to screw the government.

Great site. Thanks for the resource.

Sorry, but these subsidies are not economically sound. The real cost of food is the real cost of food, and it should remain such. Farmers can build the costs of protecting themselves from risks and loss like any other industry - build it into the cost of what is sold. Being at a competitive disadvantage is not a good excuse for yanking billions from the trough. It is especially disturbing when much of this money goes to mega corporations or to non farmers and even destruction of product. It is insane economically, even if politically popular among the beneficiaries.

I just looked at your sight for the first time and was shocked! Why on earth are we subsidizing RICE? And in Texas no less to the tune of 8 million dollars in 2005 (that was to one farm alone). Can you grow rice in Texas?? The farm owners puzzled me too. There were people and corporations listed at 10 % each, but when you look at the owners of the corporations they were all the same people! Is this all really legal?? Makes me ill!!!!

How about we just banish the farmer and rancher from America. Let us become dependant on other countries to raise our food sources with little to no regulation and see how Americans, with no knowledge of how agriculture works, complain to the government when they can't afford a loaf of bread, or have to wait in lines in hopes of buying some sub-par quality food and take it home and make a meal out of it. If you really want to fuss where "your" money goes, go complain to the politicians who "work" in DC and collect a paycheck for sitting on their duffs all day long! Keep in mind, they (and their families) recieve a pension and health care for the rest of their lives, no matter how poor of a job they have done.

not all names printed. why?2006?

largest free loaders in my district not named.

Where do I go to find out how these programs work? Everyone on the web seems to have an agenda - I want to read and see some sort of "primer" on how a farmer get what. There has to be a "simplified" version somewhere (not all farmers are accountants and lawyers). Why don't you put this info on your web site?

I bought an old farm back in 1985 all wooded now. Part of it was a plantation - Spruce trees.

Do I qualify for a subsidy ?
All my neighbors do - up & down the hill where I live and most of Aroostook County - the biggest County East of the Mississippi. (Yep, they're in the listing !

Im new to farming.Im raising cattle for beef on just 7 acres.I quit my job last year to raise calves and expand the feed lot. Unfortunatly I lost a bunch of calves over the winter(21)and Im having a hard time recovering from the financial loss.
I have never taken any money from the tax payers to fund my farm business. I am not asking for or reciving any tax money to cover my losses.
I have been selling off assets and cutting expences to cover my losses and plan to try again if funds permit.If not Ill get a non-farm job and save my money to try again in the future.The point is I will not take your tax money for my business.It is hard to compete in a market which has evolved around such heavy subsidies.

I don't think subsidies are the problem, it's the improper use and allocation that is the problem. It's the lack of proper screening to ensure that actual producers are getting these funds and not just some investor looking for a tax write-off. Like it or not, ensuring a clean food source is necessary and essential - it is the government's responsibility - and it takes money to ensure that. If there weren't economic incentives, I fear many people would cut corners. They would overuse the land/water resources and move on rather than conserve. That is just business. The most successful business man or business woman does what it takes to gain the most profit with the least inputs. I'm not saying that is right, I'm just saying this isn't "Little House" anymore.

I come from a lifetime of farmers that stretches from here all the way across the Atlantic. My family does recieve some subsidies, but the difference is that many of the subsidies we recieve have come from conservation programs. They are not excessive - just what is necessary to survive. And if you question that, please keep in mind that no one in my family has ever owned a new car or vehicle and that we grew up our whole lives in hand-me-downs, while even kids young as 8 years old waking at 6 a.m. to start working in the fields, or feeding animals and not coming in till after 9 p.m. at night. Many a year we had cricked backs from hoeing the fields and sunburns from picking up bales or digging fence posts. I know we work hard. In fact, most of my memories aren't of talking around the dinner table but of working with my family members on the farm. So I find it extremely offensive when people say farm subsidies are paying for people to sit on their duffs.

We believe in conserving the land, and we refuse to do things that will harm it. We refuse to use products that have the potential to damage endangered wildlife - we do a lot of all-natural. We use efficient fuel and watering practices. Because of our committment to preserving the land for future generations - because we love nature and care about the health of the quality products we produce - we are constantly struggling to compete with those whose primary concern is the bottom dollar. People who don't make the same sacrfices we do, who are able to produce higher yields, faster and with grave consequences for our environment. If you genuinely care about our country, our land, and our people, you can't possibly want free market dollars being the only driving force behind food production.

As recent events have shown, food safety and our environment are important issues and self-regulatory efforts just aren't enough. Sadly, most people need incentives to do the right thing - and if you're honest with yourself you'll admit that.

So, America, if you want producers like us who care about the land and preserve it - if you want products that are safe and healthy like what we produce - then you're going to have to put away this ridiculous idea that farm subsidies are an all or nothing issue. As far as I'm concerned, it's not an issue of "get rid of it" it's a issue of "get it right."

The government is worried that too much farmland is being sold to build new homes and to developers---well seems the partial cure could be to let the farmer's start planting the the ground they get paid to let lay. Quit paying out these subsidies for nothing. Maybe just maybe, our national and local debt would go down.Sell crops to other countries---make some money, not spend it on "useless" waste!!!

It's easy for environmental whack jobs to complain about farm subsidies when they don't understand why they are being used. Farmers are some of the most environmentally sound people in the US...but you wouldn't understand that because you're too busy getting revenge for farm groups not making your ideals a "priority." Pathetic...all of you need to starve, or even just pay $100 for a loaf of bread, for just one day to understand why farming is absolutely vital in this country.

I grew up on a farm and my father is still farming. In fact, his name is in the database. Although I feel farmers are generally some of the nicest people in the world and I love my Dad--I don't agree in subsidization of ANY business. And the last I checked--farming is a business.

One blog comment in particular unnerved me. Kayla's "environmental whack jobs" comment clearly is that of a bitter, non educated individual in terms of environmental consequences. Most farmers are not environmentally friendly. Ask my Dad--who wants to remove every tree for more crop land. Ask the farmer's still using toxic fertilizers on their crops what the longterm effects are and I'm sure they won't tell you or they will downplay it. They do it for more crop yield and thus more income.

I also don't believe farm subsidies are necessarily used for the intended purpose. I checked the data base for the top subsidized farms in the area I grew up. Not surprised the farm that received the most (in the millions) is also the farm with the mansion, expensive cars, boats etc. Go figure.

What I see on this blog is an all or nothing opinion.
We all have to remember that true stewardship of anything, ie land, money, talents, gifts, etc is in the balanced way we use them. Some farmers and ranchers are in it just for the almighty dollar especially when it comes to
the big corporations.
What everyone needs to realize is that agriculture is not an easy business, this is not a cut and dry debate. Our products must compete on a global scale and true supply and demand market has not existed since before the depression.
There are many agriculture producers that do an excellent job of being good stewards of their resources and realize that this is necessary to successful production.
And lets face it agriculture in not the only government subsidized industry in this nation.
Do a little digging and you will see that first it was the railroads, because the government built railways, then and now it is the auto industry because the government builds roads and bridges.
Let's face it to many industries are intertwined and dependent upon one another. Let's all step down off our soap boxes and walk in someone elses shoes before we speak.
I agree that the farm subsidy program needs to be cleaned up and that the money needs to go to the right people. I have been involved in agriculture for most of my life in Texas and personally don't know anyone that makes a living from agriculture. There is always someone in the family that has to work off the farm to bring home money to pay the bills. Most years we barely broke even. Also funding sources for these incentives needs to be researched because one incentive we used to get was wool and mohair and this was NOT funded by taxes, but by the tariffs collected on imported wool and mohair products, but guess whose incentive was completely eliminated during the Clinton administration? Yep wool and mohair, and where does that money go now?
Personally the one subsidy that needs to come about is an incentive to grow organic products and someone tough to stand on the regulations to keep our organic products true to the policy. No letting the big food giants bend the rules, they already screw up most of our food supply, leave the organic alone.
Let's face it this is a great country to live in, but it is not perfect and no society is or ever will be, we just have to stay active as informed citizens and keep our government on its toes.

I live in a rural area, we flood constantly, the farmers are trying to drown us out, by stopping us from pumping into the nearest ditch. I would like to know if a drainage pond subsidy exists for us. We cant get any help from our local drainage board.Everytime we go in front of them for help some farmer steps up and with a threat to sue, if any water is put on their land which is nothing but horse pasture anyway, and would most likely not effect them at all,however my local drainage board backs down.It is how much land you own in my county that seems to determine if you flood or stay dry.We have 2 acres 1 of which would be under water most of the year. We are left with no where to drain, but we do pay a ditch tax.So please tell us how we can obtain a drainage-pond subsidy,maybe it is time for the farmers to give back some subsidy money to the people they are flooding out for the sake of a higher crop yield. Signed retired, and tired.

pantyhose sex But it didn't take you do not her first thing in your.