Combines Ever wonder how much your neighbors get from FSAIJ

Environmental wellness group.........Cutting edge research on health and the environment. Now, you want to tell me 1: How in the sam hell this is cutting edge imformation when we could get it any time at the fsa ourselves and 2: How in the hell does this benefit the environment or our healthIJ What these people need is a lawsuit for picking on farmers and making it look like we all just get handouts. BTW.....Raye already spoke of this subject below Va

Several independently wealthy hobby farmers in my county got more than a million dollars from FSA since 1996. These are the same guys who are going around paying twice the going rate for land rent just to take land away from the REAl farmers who have been working it for years. One of the farms is owned by a fortune 500 company as a hunting retreat. If them getting a million dollars in farm subsidy money is not a handout I don't know what is!

I guess I should add that I don't have a problem with someone who is making their living off the land getting farm subsidy payments, I get them myself. But you gotta draw the line somewhere. If Bill Gates goes out and buys a 10,000 acre hobby farm do we really need to be subsidizing him with OUR tax moneyIJ It just annoys me that the "farmers" (if you can even call them farmers)getting the lions share of the money in my county included, two multi-millionare New York lawyers, A multi-millionare trucking magnate from New Jersey, the multi-millionare owner of grocery chain, and a corporate hunting retreat owned by a fortune 500 company. I don't know about you, but I don't want my tax money going to make these guys richer. The rest of the farmers in my county combined did not get as much as any one of these "farming" operations. The way things are going, these rich hobby farmers will be the only farmers left in five or ten years, because they will have used their megabucks to run the rest of us of of the land we rent.

Actually.....that brings up a good point. Wasn't there a line drawn at one time that said no payment would exceed 50,000IJ....Perhaps that wasn't the magical number but I do remember them telling of a line that was drawn for subsidy's. As for ldp's......You can't get mad at a guy that raked in a load because he hit the market's right and collected his ldp's at a low time and then sold the commodity when the market went back up.....That is the sweet sting of free enterprise. Some are better at it than others. Another thing you should look at......Alot of those farmers in the top 10 in my county I looked at would not surprise me in the least if they lost thier rear in the next few years if things get tight. This display of numbers means NOTHING! I think my ex-wife must work for these people. Until you see a liability's sheet and a NET....not Gross.....income.....Then and only then we need to get worried. Those fortune 500 even with these payments I'd bet have those farming operations for tax purposes solely and they only show a profit every 5 years...........It's all just a shuffling of the books. And....as for loosing rented land......you stop and think about this for a second. Your landlord get's on there and see's that you made squat compared to your neighbor.......Now, if things are a little wondrous right now as to whether or not you'll get the land again don't you think that Mr. or Mrs. landlord would rather have someone that can bring them in more money to farm it vs. youIJ Sure....they don't understand that it's totally based in acres and bushels....they don't care.....They see a bigger dollar sign at the neighbors name than yours. I said it......I mean it........That EWG are a bunch of no good ( you fill in the blank)__________'s and they need a lawsuit. That was nothing more than pure hatefulness putting that up there....It does ZERO good. later

Probably the best thing to do if you don't want anyone to know your business is file your FSA stuff under a farm name, instead of your name. As long as you don't have a sign at the end of the drive, or the farm name painted on the side of all your trucks equipment most people will not know who it is. For example there is one farm listed on the ewg website as laurel Hill Farm that is under the same zipcode as me, but I have absolutely no clue where laurel Hill Farm is even thought I am sure I know the owner, because I know all the farmers in this county. Heck there are not but of us 12 of us left.

That is a nice thought.....but won't work in a small community like "here". n1 on the list in my county is a farm name that has changed just recently from what it used to be. 1 day of asking around and I found out who the top receiver of 537,000 dollars in 5 years was. Why do you support these peopleIJ So now you know who got what........what is that going to solveIJ I can see more of how it's going to cause rough waters. I know this much.....if farmers had a clue on how to get organized (which we never will) ewg should be sued silly for singling out one gov't help program and listing names. I'd rather read the names of ppl in my community that are getting welfare and how much.....Next time someone brags you can put them in thier place. That would be alot more useful......not to mention.....why embarrass a farmer....a guy that does work to feed and provide for the world......caretaker of the land......is more than likely in harmony with nature and life to protect and keep this precious earth.....and penalize him by putting out his name to the world in a manner that degrades him_herIJ Degrading should be given where due.......Sponges of the gov't for a period over 10 years should be shown.........might change your ideal of some businessmen in your town. Crooked ewg........nothing more than pure hatefulness towards the farmer........more than likely, a spark that has made this bonfire from jealousy and greed.........especially GREED! later

Did I ever say I supported the ewgIJIJIJIJIJ NO Am I against a legitimate farmer getting farm subsidies. NO but I do think the current farm bill was flawed from the day it was passed. What I am against is these multi-millionares, and corporations that are farming the national treasury, because several of them in my state are raking in a bumper crop. I think there should be a cap, on how much money any farmer can get in government subsidies. If your off-farm income exceeds a certain amount you should be ineligible for subsidies altogether. The current program encourages big corporate farms to get bigger, and basically puts smaller family farmers like myself who would like to stay on the land, but have no interest in farming several thousand acres out of the business. I used to make a good living off of the land, but thanks to GATT, and NAFTA, allowing Brazil to sell beans up here cheaper than we can grow them, and USDA programs that favor big corperate agriculture, I am now having to work off the farm just to make ends meet. If the next farm bill takes away the Peanut quota program, I will have no choice but to sell out, because that is the only money crop I have left. This farm has been worked continuously by my family for two centuries, and I hate to think that I will be the one who will have to give up and sell it. But I don't see much hope if things don't change. Suing this ewg crowd will get you nowhere, because every dollar the government spends on anything is public information with the notable exception of a few classified Military, and CIA operations. I don't support ewg's tree hugging agenda, but I am glad that they are drawing attention to the fact that the USDA is giving farm subsidy money that was intended to help family farmers struggling to make a living off the land to multi-millionares, and corperations.

I've recently read a market analyst's text from that great country of yours, who suggests that the US needs only about 33,000 of thoe corporate farms to feed all of you Rod

I found it a fair bit interesting that 1_3 of the payments came in the 2000 calander year what I would like to see is the amount of wright downs the government has given these mega farms if someone can find that please post

To those that think gov't payments shouldn't exist or should be way scaled back, that is fine with me but you should plan to pay more for your food and quit talking with your mouth full.