Writing in the National Review on Monday, Windsor Mann castigated presidential candidate and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio for defending the federal sugar program. While receiving far less direct federal subsidies than other crops, sugar does enjoy price supports and other government help. Rubio’s support stems from Florida’s long history of sugar production.
Viewing it as an unnecessary federal giveway, conservative groups have made dismantling the U.S. sugar program a priority. On August 18, the Heritage Foundation’s Bryan Riley suggested that the sugar program was responsible for the loss of 600 jobs due to Nabisco’s decision to shift the production of Oreo cookies from Chicago to Mexico.
Farm Policy Facts, an agriculture-industry-funded group aligned with former House Agriculture Committee chairman Larry Combest, pushed back against Heritage for its opposition to farm-bill programs. “I see zero conflict between conservatism and supporting American agriculture,” Combest said.