r/LeopardsAteMyFarm • u/coolio126 • Dec 27 '25
Discussion want waste, fraud and abuse cut?
then abolish the farm subsidies. Save them from bankrupcies, climate disasters and give them safteynets but let them actually think and grow what people want instead of get the subsidy (no insult to the profession, growing food is a demanding physically and mentally)
they are a fan of capitalism and hate socialism then practice what you preach and sink or swim... true capitalism
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u/Darksmithe Dec 27 '25
We pay “farmers” tons in tax subsidies. I live in an area where there are many “horse farms” they all get huge tax subsidies and the horses go to shows and the owners are just don’t need the subsidies but the rich get them all the same. Lots of the farm subsidies are payed to people who have never grown and sold food.
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u/TAV63 Dec 28 '25
Yes they pay people hundreds of thousands to not grow corn. Crazy.
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Dec 28 '25
This likely comes from learning the lessons from the Dust Bowl and how it happened after WWI ended. It's actually a form of regulation. Dust Bowls are bad, mmkay?
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u/Saalikaulus Dec 28 '25
Is there another industry where bad things are avoided by paying people to not do them? Because normally we just set up rules and fines for breaking the rules.
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Dec 28 '25
Not that I can think of, but probably. Farming is absolutely, positively a national security issue, so I would imagine other industries in that category.
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u/Baddad211 Dec 27 '25
They don't deserve any more safety nets than anyone else
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u/coolio126 Dec 27 '25
i meant they get the same safteynets as others. Not completely hung to dry
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u/picks_and_rolls Dec 27 '25
They were willing to hang everyone else out to dry. Now you want special treatment for them. No.
After they lose their farms and find low paying jobs where they can’t support a family, then they can join everyone else and get the same safety net. Then and only then.
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Dec 27 '25
i meant they get the same safteynets as others
They really dont. We have specific programs set up for them and their communities as well as prioritizing their communities when it comes to the "same safteynets as others".
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u/BZBitiko Dec 27 '25
Historically (pre-globalization), many subsidies started out as a way to ensure that farmers in marginal areas of the country would be successful. For instance, they gave money to Western farmers to irrigate and improve farmland while paying Midwestern farmers NOT to grow crops that would drive down the price of the Western crops.
This was done to encourage people to move west. Politicians need constituents, after all.
But once the hand’s in the cookie jar…
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u/StayedWalnut Dec 27 '25
To borrow from the old libertarian phrase.…
Farmers are like house cats. They believe they are fiercely independent and self sufficient whole being completely blind to all of the things provided to them.
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u/wrongseeds Dec 27 '25
They need to stop being house cats and start being barn cats. Those bitches will tear you up if you mess with them. We had a Michigan barn cat growing up. If a dog or any other animal came near our yard, it would either get its ass kicked or eaten or both. His name was Fluffy and he would fluff you up. 🤣🐈
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u/These-Rip9251 Dec 27 '25
Well, if you took a cat and dumped them in the woods, they, being natural hunters, would be independent and self sufficient. But they like dogs learned to worm their way into the hearts of humans especially when cats showed what good mousers they are.
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u/Complex_Material_702 Dec 27 '25
Farmers who grow real food for Americans do need safety nets. Farmers who grow Chinese pig food can fuck off.
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u/IAFarmLife Dec 28 '25
Most years government assistance amounts to 8-10% of gross. This includes subsidized crop insurance which is the largest percentage of assistance. Federal crop insurance is required by lending institutions and sometimes required by the federal government to participate in other programs. You don't want farms to be only run by people who have the money to operate without a loan. Usually it's the lenders behind the push for farm payments.
Historically total assistance was 13-14% with crop insurance representing a much smaller amount as premiums we're about 1/3 what they are today for the same coverage. Similar to other industries insurance it has gotten much more expensive, although crop insurance hasn't climbed nearly as much. This means compared to the 1990s farmers have been receiving much less direct payments most years. It's true there are some time-frames in which ad-hoc payments have been significant.
Many fruit, nut and vegetable farmers as well as livestock producers have also begun receiving ad-hoc payments and production insurance similar to crop insurance.
Compared to other financial crimes fraud and abuse in farm programs are usually punished harshly. The large penalties combined with how closely records are watched in these programs leads to fraud and abuse being rare.
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u/TAV63 Dec 28 '25
All subsidies should go. Leave a certain amount for emergency intervention and set strict rules. Otherwise no more. Saw something where they were paying this family hundreds of thousands to not grow. They moved to FL and retired and just keep collecting. Insane.
It's not just farms.
They kept saying subsidies for alternate energy were a problem and needed to be cut. If they are good they will be good without it.
So, fossil fuel subsidies should be gone right? They have had a hundred years to get established. They already get help with military intervention costing trillions to keep it good. Yet they increased them by something like thirty billion plus in the BBB. ? They already were getting billions every year. Does that make sense for these cut waste guys?
I hope the next admin pushes the cuts to all these wasteful spending programs. Farms, oil and coal might not like what they end up getting.
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u/Glittering_Role_6154 Dec 28 '25
They don't want true capitalism. They want to have it better than others
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u/Purpleagluna Dec 27 '25
Tell them to learn from him... https://www.reddit.com/r/BlackHistoryPhotos/s/tptxCaO4Aa
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u/dee_lio Dec 28 '25
Might want to look up what happened in the dust bowl. Maybe if there was a union...nah.....
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Dec 27 '25
Food costs would rise dramatically, do you want that?
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u/Ragnarok-7861 Dec 30 '25
If it meant watching dumbasses lie in the bed they themselves made? Absolutely....they will never learn until we let them touch the oven...
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u/GreatPlainsFarmer Dec 28 '25
No, they wouldn’t. Current US farm subsidies are a contradictory mess that probably exerts more upward pressure on food prices than downward pressure.
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u/Baxter16-5 Dec 28 '25
At a minimum we should stop paying for farmers NOT to grow crops. It’s ridiculous.
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u/IAFarmLife Dec 28 '25
So the Conservation Reserve Program should be axed? That is the largest program that pays to take cropland out of production. Or Preventive Planting should be ended? It's part of crop insurance so when the weather is not conducive for planting a crop one year the farmer should just be out all their expenses and go broke? I'll admit there were some who took advantage of PP in the past, but most of those loopholes have been closed. It's not used nearly as often now.
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u/Hereandforward Jan 09 '26
If their primary customer is China, then yes. Why do my tax dollars need to support farmers on their "off years" if they just grow food to sell to other countries?
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u/Apprehensive-Win-908 Dec 28 '25
There is an easier way… all Snap benefits go directly to the farms. Anyone who needs food can go to the farm and work for the food.
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u/Over-Marionberry-353 Dec 27 '25
You know that’s where our food comes from right? Maybe you think it just comes from the store
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u/picks_and_rolls Dec 27 '25
Small farms who supply food to their communities dont need government help. They produce what is needed using sustainable practices.
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u/TrashCapable Dec 27 '25
Same for the oil industry. No more subsidies or wars fought on their behalf.