Details about this story

• Source: Washington Post
• Date: December 22, 2006
• URL: Read the story
• Bylines: Sarah Cohen , Gilbert M. Gaul , Dan Morgan
• Topics: Federal Government , Agriculture
• Data Types: Federal Data
• Description/Excerpt: About 1.2 million farmers and farmland owners got $15 billion in income support or price guarantees in 2005, according to a Washington Post analysis of Agriculture Department payment records. The benefits are heavily tilted to large commercial farmers growing a few row crops in a handful of states. But the money also is widely distributed to a middle group of more than 130,000 farms, each receiving $25,000 to $100,000. The federal dollars ripple through local economies, adding to purchasing power at stores and businesses -- and creating a political constituency for the programs. In 1987, for example, Congress tried to close loopholes that allowed larger farms to exceed the limit on how much each could receive in annual federal payments. The softer language meant that the structured corporate farms could continue almost unabated. In 2004, the most recent year available, at least 1,900 of these organizations collected $312 million more than they would have if their farms were held to strict limits, the Washington Post analysis shows.