Farm bill ensures lots of green

America takes care of its farmers.
Just in my lifetime American farmers have been paid to produce more and, at times, to produce nothing at all.
It is a truism that supercedes reality.
Two summers ago there was a report in the Washington Post about farm subsidies being doled out to non-farmers--people who live on land formerly used for farming.
It went on to explain that even landowners who did farm did not have to grow the crop the subsidy was intended for, or any crop at all.
It seems that farm subsidies are quite a windfall for some.

The payments now account for nearly half of the nation's expanding agricultural subsidy system, a complex web that has little basis in fairness or efficiency. What began in the 1930s as a limited safety net for working farmers has swollen into a far-flung infrastructure of entitlements that has cost $172 billion over the past decade. In 2005 alone, when pretax farm profits were at a near-record $72 billion, the federal government handed out more than $25 billion in aid, almost 50 percent more than the amount it pays to families receiving welfare.
--Washington Post (July 2, 2006)

And now we have the controverial $307 billion farm bill which, at least on the surface, subsidizes farmers on both ends of the wealth spectrum.
And to answer the question, "who counts as rich?", I offer this: pretty much no one.
Here's an excerpt from the report in today's Christian Science Monitor:

Washington - At the heart of the standoff between the White House and Congress over a $307 billion farm bill is the question: Should taxpayers subsidize rich farmers – and who counts as rich?

What income levels qualify – or disqualify – Americans from federal aid programs has figured in several clashes between the Bush administration and the Democrat-controlled Congress.

The farm bill on the way to the president's desk this week limits eligibility for farm subsidies to individuals with an adjusted gross farm income of less than $750,000; $1.5 million for couples. That's down from the $2.5 million for couples under current law, but President Bush wants the eligibility cap for farm subsidies to be much lower: $200,000.

"At a time of record farm income, Congress chose to .... require the American taxpayers to subsidize the incomes of married farmers already earning up to $1.5 million per year and expand government control over farm programs," said the White House in a statement Thursday.

The farm bill passed both the House and Senate last week with veto-proof majorities, 81 to 15 in the Senate and 318 to 106 in the House. The bill cuts traditional crop insurance programs by $3.8 billion and authorizes a $10.3 billion increase in nutrition programs.

This bill was vetoed by President Bush today, but you can rest assured that it will be overturned.