A corn, soybean and rice operation collected $3.7 million in crop subsidies in 2015, said the Government Accountability Office in a report on USDA’s rule limiting subsidies to people “actively engaged” in farming. The rule requires members of general partnerships and joint ventures to provide land, capital or equipment to a farm and also labor or management.
The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, a small-farmer advocate, said the GAO report “should be shocking to farmers and to taxpayers” by chronicling “the widespread abuse of farm bill payment limitations.” The coalition said the USDA gave a total of $260 million in 2015 to people who did not work on a farm. Crop subsidies are limited to $125,000 per person per year but there are ways to evade the limit.
In a list of the 19 largest payouts, the GAO said the $3.7 million in payments to a rice, corn and soybean operation active in the Midwest and South involved two individuals and 32 corporations. The 34 members of the operation included 25 people plus 10 spouses who provided farm management but no labor. The 50 largest operations averaged $884,495 in payments. The 2014 farm law instructed USDA to write “actively engaged” rules for general partnerships and joint ventures. It exempted family-operated farms.
Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley tweeted that the 2018 farm bill should include his amendment for a “hard cap” on payments and to limit payments to a farmer, the farmer’s spouse and one manager. “Why should I vote for a farm bill out of senate ag comm that doesn’t include my very strict payment limitations? It’s ridiculous that non farmers can get millions of subsidies. My amendment passed both houses 2014 and was dropped by conferees I learned lesson,” he said.
To read the GAO report, click here.