Every five years or so, Congress and well-connected agricultural lobbyists begin drafting a new Farm Bill. The inevitable spending bonanza they come up with is nearly always a bad deal, not only for taxpayers and the environment, but for the ways the Farm Bill inhibits our ability to expand market access abroad for agricultural products. Thankfully, the time for real reform may be near, as the 2014 iteration of the Farm Bill expires in 2018.
The federal government currently spends about $15 billion a year on myriad agricultural subsidies, ranging from crop insurance premium support programs to newer commodity payment programs like the Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage programs. The bulk of these benefits flow not to family farms, but to the wealthiest agribusinesses.
