I’m Gwen Outen with the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.
Two thousand four was a good year for American farmers. Totalfarm earnings were estimated at seventy-four thousand milliondollars for the year. That means the average farm income was aboutseventy-one thousand dollars, or a gain of about three percent fromthe 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 percentof farmers accepted some kind of aid, or subsidy, in two thousandthree.
An organization called the Commodity Credit Corporationsupervises farm aid. The C.C.C. is part of the AgricultureDepartment’s Farm Services Agency.
The C.C.C. seeks to keep crop prices at balanced levels. Theagency uses loan programs, direct payments and even buys crops tosupport prices. It also supervises emergency farm aid and specialprograms like the Fair and Equitable Tobacco Reform Act of twothousand four. That act ends price supports for tobacco farmers byoffering them payments for up to ten years.
Reports say the total amount of farm aid paid last year isestimated at fifteen thousand seven hundred million dollars.
An organization called the Environmental Working Group keepsinformation on all farm subsidies paid by the government. The groupexamined subsidies between nineteen ninety-five and two thousandthree.
It says ten percent of farms received seventy-two percent ofgovernment subsidies during that nine-year period. The group saysbig farms that are organized as corporation or partnershipbusinesses receive the most aid. It says the big farms receive moreaid, even when they are more profitable than smaller family farms.
Critics say farm subsidies are costly and wasteful. Critics alsonote that subsidies go only to growers of widely traded crops, likecorn, cotton, wheat and soybean.
But many farmers, including ones who only receive a few thousanddollars a year, support the subsidy programs. They say small farmingcommunities in states like Minnesota, Nebraska, and South Dakotawould not survive without the aid.
This VOA Special English Agriculture Report was written by MarioRitter. This is Gwen Outen.