IIRC they no longer get money for *not* growing their crops.
I'm not sure what your definitions are of "elderly" and "wealthy" but my gentleman friend is 62, farms 100 acres of cotton and 45 acres of wheat and gets the subsidies. He may not fit your idea of elderly but he sure as hell isn't wealthy. However, he's very opposed to the government farm program. Last year his cotton crop was so bad that he made more money selling his water rights since he has a well so doesn't need his share of the canal water. Sue - Central California
Didn't find your answer? Ask the community — no account required.
C
Charlie
Quoting Bingo the Philosopher Dog now, are ya'?
P
paghat
Exclusively the few that are contemptible.
-paggers
P
paghat
Hey, a couple contemptibles showed an interest in wild & imperceptive guesses who I'm voting for. I was just fulfilling their limited desire for knowledge.
-paggers
S
Sue
The "family farmers", per the article, seem to be eligible for this money, too. The ones who are having trouble are the ones who lease rather than own the land and are not having their leases renewed. I was responding to this statement: "Nothing goes to the elderly farmer who still works dawn to dusk trying to pay for his own farm, but to the very wealthy." I saw nothing in the article to back up this statement. Now, I have been told that Queen Elizabeth used to get US farm subsidies because she did (or perhaps still does) own quite a bit of property here. I have absolutely no proof of this.
I've read the article now and see what you're talking about. My statement about the way things used to be was based on my gentleman friend no longer having to have a "set aside" to get the subsidies for his cotton. There was some very careful calculation about how many acres were under cultivation thereby how many acres he couldn't plant.
Well, I'm more worried about the meager livelihood of my gentleman friend (his pick up truck is about 15 years old and his tractor is older than that which I point out to demonstrate that he is *not* wealthy) than I am of farmers in the Third World. And, as I said, he is very much against the subsidies.
work in a welfare office and it sickens me at some of the stuff we do. But, that's just a point of view thing. I'm goin' out to plant the herbs now. Sue
L
Leon Fisk
If you want to lookup some actual numbers from past years in your local area look here:
formatting link
on your state and maybe county, then click on say Top Recipients in 2005. You should see some familiar names from local farmers and what there "take" was in 2005.