Mulch and the farm subsidy database

Here is the link to the blog Mulch, (also featured as a RSS feed on this site) which now links to the updated version of the farm subsidy database by the Environmental Working Group.


Here is an explanation what the database is about:

The lists of top subsidy beneficiaries have changed dramatically. Just about every ranking of subsidy payments has changed in this new database because, for the first time, USDA has tracked subsidy benefits as they pass through tens of thousands of farm business entities—agribusiness cooperatives, partnerships, joint ventures and corporations—and has assigned virtually all farm subsidy 'benefits' to individuals. The Farm Bill 2007 Policy Analysis Database bases all of its rankings and analyses on this new benefits tracking data.
Specifically, some 358,057 individuals now have a dollar value for subsidy benefits associated with their names for the first time in our system—and they received $9.8 billion in crop subsidy benefits alone between 2003 and 2005. In the database, those individuals have a double asterisk after their name, indicating that all of their subsidy benefits were in the form of pass-through(s) from a farm business(es) in which they had an ownership interest. A single asterisk means both payments made directly and pass-through subsidies are attributed to the individual by USDA. Listings with no asterisk are for individuals or entities that received all of their subsidy directly from USDA.

TK: Some 358,057 people probably aren't thrilled that their federal subsidy information is available in a public database. At the same time, the database sheds needed light on the realities of farm subsidies and could sharpen arguments on either side of the debate about the farm program reform. Rep. Dennis Cardoza told me today that farm program expenditures only account for about 13% of agriculture spending and that number could be even lower by the time the farm bill is written. The message: don't place all the onus on program crop subsidies in the search for new dollars.