As long as we continue to have very divergent views on which taxes are good or sacred or evil and bad as a society it tells me they will never be gone. The real issue is as we grow in population, social systems and a private sector consolidating to become more efficient and more politically powerful, how fast will spending keep progressing and how much will society choose to fund by taxation or by borrowing money. We also must realize up to a certain point the debt is funded by nations and individuals looking for secure and constant returns on their monies. It appears there are a few trillion to go before the investors back away.

Bryce

Everyone considering CRP has decisions to make. If I have land acceptable for CRP, do I potentially make more money by accepting the risk and farming it or, leave it in grass and run cattle? Or take the smaller guaranteed money and put it in CRP?
A lot of landowners with CRP still give a share to a farmer because they do not have the equipment or capability to maintain the CRP (it sometimes takes more work than some think - controlling weeds and trees, spraying and burning) And, they still pay property taxes and liability insurance. So, they are probably not clearing as much as you think. Also, think of the large investment they have to own that ground.

Personally I have a little land in CRP, but also have some I manage for wildlife and receive nothing for it - except a place my grandkids will have to hunt when they are old enough - which makes it worth it to me.
I look at CRP payments like taxes - I didn't make the rules, but will play by them.

Got to go - it's time to drop a boat in the 15,000 acre reservoir ...that the government (fellow taxpayers) are paying for - Thank You!

Best part of the CRP program is farmers get paid for their most worthless acres. Nobody puts their best ground in the program. Ranchers out west have to make BLM open to the public. Farmers charge to hunt on ground your already paying rent on.

If farmers get paid to not produce why dont trappers get paid not to trap? Market is flooded and prices abysmal. I got traps I would like to put into a CRP program. I don't see any diference.

Actually, CRP does not pay for the "most worthless acres". It has to be tillable ground and will likely be valued somewhere between pastureland and good bottom ground. It is still very valuable ground, and not because of the CRP payment.

BLM ground is not owned by ranchers. It is owned by the Bureau of Land Management (aka good ol' USA).

Traps in CRP ...interesting concept. I wish the demand for traps was as good as the demand for land...I'd be sitting on a gold mine. But, there is no comparison between traps and land...or I'd be swapping the former for the latter.

WA state and maybe others states have crep. It is mostly planting trees to shade the ditches, now called stream, to chill the water for salmon.
Best thing about this program is that beaver love it. Providing a source of income for nwco’s, and fur trappers.
This program is almost mandatory for mitigation if you get a permit to clean your ditch.
Our WA farm is zoned AG and is in open space to reduce the property tax. No crep.

Yes most of the CRP ground in the USA is rolling, steep, stoney, arid etc. but has been or was in row crops or in environmental catagories. Actually farmers get paid per acre by the production capability of the land. The ASCS has sorted all the acres within our counties and rated them by corn, hay yields per acre based on soil productive capacity. In our county that ranges from below 100 bu per acre corn to say 180 bu of corn plus with breaks at about every 10-15 bu per acre. The price offered for each CRP parcel is then based on the current land rents within the area for each type. So there is a wide variance in price per acre but routinely about 30% below the going rate but still reflective of the yield potential. The lower prices one often hear quoted are for soil types that have low row crop yield potential.

Bryce

Since gubmint controls overseas marketing of grain, they need to pay up. Or...let the producers market the grain themselves and gubmint can step aside.

I believe without a overseas market grain prices would not be enough to keep a family farm in operation.
Ethanal was the upswing in price also.

My grandfather was not making much money until 1976. $12.60 a bushel if I remember correctly.
We have been farming in IA since 1893

Thank you for the explanation.

Not true
We still have to manage the land. Remove certain types of scrub brush.
Last year we had to pay to control burn 60 ac[/quote]
Cool!

Farming is a welfare, theres substitutes for most of it, then we give money to trash to buy the processed food. Without all the handouts farmers would be producing beef in this marginal ground, we're paying million's so they can doze away our habitat.

Are price support payments still happening with higher grain prices?

There is nothing good about government involvment in private business. We need free markets. Banks would go under, farmers would go under, real estate would plummet if we toss out socialism. In the SHORT term. It could be done gradually less painfully, MAYBE, but few people are interested in returning to the financial system, and liberties, that allowed this country to become such world powerhouse and beacon of freedom. Americans today are scared to death of financial and individual liberty.

Here is a link that you can use to decide whether or not farmers are subsidized. You will be able to see how much your neighbors have received in government payments from 1995-2021.

https://farm.ewg.org/index.php

Beeman Thank you for posting this link . I was considering it but was not sure if I wanted to go down that road .I first found this link about 10 years ago .It takes some time for me to learn how to navigate all the info listed. And you need to see the big picture to understand what all the numbers reality show. I come from a farming background It is hard work ..And the owner takes all the risk . The shopper in the grocery store has no time money or effort in a gallon of milk,,a dozen eggs and a lb of bacon .The farmer is at the mercy of the weather all types of disease that affect plants and live stock the ever increasing price of fuel fertilizer and equipment And the farmer does not set the price on the items he produces . Like trappers we can catch any number of critters and have great quality and quantity of pelts . And the buyer says Well your catch is most impressive .But you do not have what. I have orders for So take my offer or I will buy elsewhere I do not dislike the subsidy programs But the largest amount of payments end up going to the ones that are the biggest producers .Helping the small farmer remain in business by providing a chance to make it easier to be profitable is a great way to benefit everyone On the other hand having the rules set up in a way that allows the top 1% of recipients of government farm subsidy programs receive11 % of the total given out . In my area one agri business farmer has received more than 3 million dollars in farm payments since 1996 When a small landowner gets involved in doing some conservation work on his 40 to 60 to 80 acre property is mostly means they love the outdoors and are conservation minded. The money paid to them through CRP CREP WHIP etc make it possible to .justify getting into such a program The bottom line is yes they are getting a hand out from taxpayer money But they are earning it in a way that they local people ae gaining from the CR /CREP EQIP WHIP project

We dont gain ten cents. Government intervention costs not saves.

I get not wanting to pay tax money to businessmen like farmers. But the farm programs are an important part of a stable food supply and help to stabilize the economy. How important are those?
Take away the government meddling in price supports, the farm program etc and I think you would be shocked at how fast Bill Gates, Ted Turner and a handful of others would take ownership of private farm land. I do not think that would be a good thing.

Are you saying without a government baby sitter American farmers are not smart enough to run a business? Cause I aint buying it. Some would fail. Just like with any business.

I doubt most would. While we are on that subject maybe folks would figure out operating on credit should be avoided. Instead of more large farms all owned by the mega rich I think we would see more small farms again. Probably be dairies milking 50 head instead of 20,000. There would be more truck farms. You could buy a combine with a 10 foot header again and a 4 row planter. We did not get all this corporate farming and beef production till the government started subsidizing.

Cheap food makes happy voters. Most promise a chicken in every pot one way or another. Now if we could only get more drilling and pipelines whether subsidized or not, of course with all electric we only need more coal. Wouldn't it be something if Joe has a new slogan like a free gas card for every body. Maybe instead of Link cards they will hand out free gas cards.

When they go all electric the working guy will need his electric bill subsidized, unless of course he walks to work and picks up his ration of rice while there.

ADM (Archer Daniels Midland) and Cargill market most, if not all grain exports, not the feds.

Bryce....you referenced ASCS in past posts. Their name was changed to FSA (Farm Services Agency) at least 15+ years ago. Same agency, just a new name. They are co-located with NRCS everywhere.

Production agriculture is a complex industry. I have never understood many of the Federal commodity programs, but some of them are necessary for a stable food supply whether many of us realize it or not.