Congressional farm leader, Collin Peterson, from Minnesota, is standing up against the announced plan. If the plan would go into play, thousands of Minnesota farms would see a huge portion of their income disappear.
However, at the same time many farmers like Fred Dauer see the importance of the cuts and think it will greatly benefit Minnesota agriculture.
“If you gross over $500,000 you don’t need to get any help from the federal government,” Dauer told Minnesota Public Radio.
Dauer himself does receive some payments from the federal government, but many of his crops including sweet corn, peas and alfalfa do not qualify for subsidy programs.
He pointed out that many of the larger farms use the money from the government to buy more land and slowly squeeze out small farms. This has a huge impact on Minnesota revenue because according to census, most agriculture sales come from small farms.
Others point out that farms, such as soybean farms, that have a revenue of $500,000 ultimately only make $36,000 a year in the long run. That is well below the average income of Americans.
Regardless of the debate to the “proper” solution, few point out that Obama is offering alternatives for farmers to make extra money. His plan includes subsidy payments for “environmental services” including wind turbines and sequestering carbon on the land.
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