Government payments to farmers at historic highs, but some warn it's unsustainable - Entrepreneur Generations

Direct government payments to farmers are at historic highs under the Trump administration as the U.S. Department of Agriculture has sought to help farmers struggling with the tariff war, record wet weather, and the pandemic.

"But as agriculture grows more reliant on unprecedented taxpayer support, farm policy experts and watchdog groups warn the subsidies are growing too big and too fast, with no strings attached and little oversight from Congress — and that Washington could have a difficult time shutting off the spigot," Ryan McCrimmon reports for Politico. "The massive payments have been a political boon to Trump in farm country — he tweeted in January that he hoped the money would be 'the thing they will most remember' — but risk creating a culture of dependency, as farmers and ranchers work the bonus subsidies into their financial plans when making large, up-front investments in seed, feed and farm machinery."

from The Rural Blog https://ift.tt/3j4wHKx Government payments to farmers at historic highs, but some warn it's unsustainable - Entrepreneur Generations

Posted by Entrepreneur Generations

Tweet