Live, From DC, The New Farm Subsidy Database
Starting this afternoon, the Enviromental Working Group's 2007 farm subsidy database went live online. It should have a huge impact on this year's debate on the farm bill.
The top subsidy recipient in 2005 was Maurice Wilder, a developer from Clearwater, Florida. AP reports that "Wilder received nearly $1.8 million in farm subsidy benefits that year, according to the database. He owns a corporation worth $400 million and controls about 180,000 acres of farm and ranch land in more than a half dozen states."
Not surprisingly, Wilder likes the farm program as is.
Congratulations must go to the group for all this fine work.
From their press release:
"While two-thirds of U.S. farmers receive no farm subsidy payments, American taxpayers have been writing farm subsidy checks to wealthy absentee land owners, state prison systems, universities, public corporations, and very large, well-heeled farm business operations without the government so much as asking the beneficiaries if they need our money," said Ken Cook, president of the Environmental Working Group. "Even if you live smack in the middle of a big city, type in a ZIP code and you'll find farm subsidy recipients. Surely we can come up with a smarter investment portfolio for agriculture and rural America than the list of 1.5 million subsidy beneficiaries we are publishing today," Cook said.
It's time for Congress to trim this overgrown program that hurts farmers, consumers and the world economy.
