America’s farmers receive government assistance through a number of different programs and policies, including direct farm program payments, indirect support through programs that enhance domestic and international demand for U.S. commodities or constrain domestic supplies and imports, crop insurance premium subsidies, farm loan subsidies, and Federal tax provisions. This article examines the impact of direct farm program payments—those that are delivered directly to participating farm operators and/or farmland owners—which totaled over $44 billion in 1999-2000.
Farm programs are not designed to support rural economic development. Even the CRP, with its beneficial effects on the rural landscape and environment, is not aimed at rural development. Potential scenic value is not an eligibility criterion, there is no provision that CRP land be accessible to the public, and there are no incentives to create larger conservation areas by having farmers with contiguous properties apply as a unit.