2005-1-3
I'm Gwen Outen with the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.
Two thousand four was a good year for American farmers. Total
farm earnings were estimated at seventy-four thousand million
dollars for the year. That means the average farm income was about
seventy-one thousand dollars, or a gain of about three percent from
the year before.
However, the growth in earnings depended on the size of the farm.
Large farms had increased earnings of six and one-half percent.
Smaller farms saw growth in earnings of less than three percent.
Part of American farm income came from the federal government.
The Department of Agriculture reports that about thirty-nine percent
of farmers accepted some kind of aid, or subsidy, in two thousand
three.
An organization called the Commodity Credit Corporation
supervises farm aid. The C.C.C. is part of the Agriculture
Department's Farm Services Agency.
The C.C.C. seeks to keep crop prices at balanced levels. The
agency uses loan programs, direct payments and even buys crops to
support prices. It also supervises emergency farm aid and special
programs like the Fair and Equitable Tobacco Reform Act of two
thousand four. That act ends price supports for tobacco farmers by
offering them payments for up to ten years.
Reports say the total amount of farm aid paid last year is
estimated at fifteen thousand seven hundred million dollars.
An organization called the Environmental Working Group keeps
information on all farm subsidies paid by the government. The group
examined subsidies between nineteen ninety-five and two thousand
three.
It says ten percent of farms received seventy-two percent of
government subsidies during that nine-year period. The group says
big farms that are organized as corporation or partnership
businesses receive the most aid. It says the big farms receive more
aid, even when they are more profitable than smaller family farms.
Critics say farm subsidies are costly and wasteful. Critics also
note that subsidies go only to growers of widely traded crops, like
corn, cotton, wheat and soybean.
But many farmers, including ones who only receive a few thousand
dollars a year, support the subsidy programs. They say small farming
communities in states like Minnesota, Nebraska, and South Dakota
would not survive without the aid.
This VOA Special English Agriculture Report was written by Mario
Ritter. This is Gwen Outen.