WASHINGTON â A sports team owner, a financial firm executive and residents of Hong Kong and Saudi Arabia were among 2,702 millionaire recipients of farm payments from 2003 to 2006 â and it's not even clear they were legitimate farmers, congressional investigators reported Monday. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081124...illionaires;_ylt=AtKpdrQ2kHN7aQMJBCJP2Pqs0NUE
I saw a John Stossel report on the farm bill recently. It's sickening the money being flushed down the toilet by our federal government.
What's really sickening to me are the conservation payments. You are paid to not farm the land. And, last year, they actually did let you collect hay from the "unfarmed" land since there was a shortage of hay.
The day of the 20 acre and a mule farmer are long gone. Most farmers and ranchers that I know are wealthy.There is a disconnect between suburban and metropolitan image of farming and agri-business and the reality. In Florida, where I live, Ag is second only to tourism. Most of the commercial operations are large and family owned. The small ones are "hobby farms" owned by weathy people who like to have a place in the country. These programs are and example of gov. waste.