Lawmakers should take a hard look at whether farm policies that were created to assist poor family farmers during the Great Depression make any sense in the current era of hugely profitable agribusinesses. They should enact policies that allow farmers to base their crop-planting decisions on market demand, not government subsidies and regulations.
U.S. farm policies serve no legitimate purpose. They are falsely promoted as saving the family farm and protecting the food supply. In reality, they are America's largest corporate welfare program. Read More.
Plenty of city slickers — some related to each other — are among the 350,000 folks who culled bushels of cash out of the $25 billion in annual federal crop subsidies. Read More.
Government interference in the sugar market hurts consumers and food manufacturers by driving up the price of sugar, threatening competitive farmers and ranchers by jeopardizing export growth, and weakening the U.S. economy by diverting resources from more competitive uses. This Depression-era program, which was supposed to end in 1940, has…
Abstract: The great and calamitous fiscal trends of our time—dependence on government by an increasing portion of the American population, and soaring debt that threatens the financial integrity of the economy—worsened yet again in 2010 and 2011. The United States has long reached the…
Abstract: Are maple syrup felons sufficiently heinous that they should be imprisoned for perhaps as long as 45 years? Some members of the U.S. Senate seem to believe the answer is yes: How else to explain the provisions of the Maple Agriculture Protection and…
As the congressional “super committee” grapples with deficit reduction, all manner of spending is under scrutiny. A small group of farm-state lawmakers is proposing an overhaul of dairy subsidies that would supposedly reduce outlays by $131 million over 10 years. That is just a quarter of the dollars doled out…
Saving the American Dream is The Heritage Foundation’s plan to fix the debt, cut spending and, above all, restore prosperity. It balances the nation’s budget within a decade—and keeps it balanced. It reduces the debt and cuts government…
Abstract: Eighty-five percent of the energy that fuels the American economy is from coal, petroleum, and natural gas. An unavoidable by-product of burning these fuels is carbon dioxide (CO2). Analyses…
Farm subsidies are outdated, unnecessary and unaffordable. Some suggest the farm economy cannot function without subsidies. However, nearly all subsidies go to growers of just five crops: wheat, cotton, corn, soybeans and rice. By contrast, fruit, vegetable, livestock and poultry operations receive nearly nothing, yet produce two-thirds of the farm…
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D–NV) is reportedly pursuing a vote this week on a massive expansion of food regulation. Proponents—Democrats and Republicans alike—contend that the very security of America’s food supply is at stake. But rhetoric aside, the nation’s food supply has never been safer, thanks largely to technological…
Abstract: The number of Americans who pay taxes continues to shrink—and the United States is close to the point at which half of the population will not pay taxes for government benefits…
Abstract: Year after year, The Heritage Foundation’s Index of Dependence on Government documents the ever-growing number of federal aid programs and the ever-growing number of Americans who rely on government subsidies for their existence. The number…
Click here for a chart showing Top 10 Urban 'Farmers' This year's expiration of federal agriculture policies gives Congress an important opportunity to take a fresh look at the $25 billion spent annually on farm subsidies. Current farm policies are so poorly designed that they actually worsen the conditions they claim to solve. For example: Farm subsidies…
As crop prices soar, American farm incomes are achieving record highs. Since enactment of the last farm bill in 2002, key crop prices have grown as much as 281 percent, and total farm income has more than doubled. More and more farmers are now multimillionaires. Common…
On Thursday, May 14, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Representative Howard Berman (D-CA), and Representative Adam Putnam (R-FL) introduced "the Agricultural Jobs, Opportunity, Benefits and Security Act," also known as the Ag JOBS Act of 2009. This legislation would grant citizenship to individuals who work a certain number of years in the U.S.…
There is little doubt that legislative measures designed to address global warming would greatly burden the agricultural sector. Farming is energy intensive, and cap-and-trade bills--namely the House Waxman-Markey bill, which passed in June, and the Boxer-Kerry bill pending in the Senate--are…
Delivered July 30, 2007 immigration has become the most controversial, complex, and sensitive subject we face today. It directly affects our economy, our culture, and our future. To ensure that any action we take on immigration policy is in our national interest, we need to approach the subject with reason and facts.…
Members of Congress who are poised to spend at least $171 billion on direct farm subsidies over the next decade would be wise to examine newly released statistics detailing who actually receives these subsidies. In 2001, Fortune 500 companies and large agribusinesses shattered previous farm subsidy records, while small family farmers saw their share of…
The House and Senate are close to agreeing on legislation reauthorizing most farm programs for the next 10 years. Although both the Farm Security Act (H.R. 2646) and the Agriculture Conservation and Rural Enhancement Act (S. 1731) would take a toll on the finances of most American families for years to come,…
As part of an ongoing series, the Heritage Center for Legal and Judicial Studies periodically identifies a “Bill of the...…
A new report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture states that the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP,...…
Food-stamp fraud and the government’s failed attempts to stop it were the focus of a House Oversight and Government...…
Last week, The Heritage Foundation reported on a 15-cent fee the Obama Administration's Department of Agriculture...…
Yesterday, after word got out (via a post here on the Foundry) regarding new “mandatory fees” on Christmas trees imposed...…
Christmas is more than a month away, but the Obama Administration just couldn't wait to hang a shiny new ornament on...…
President Obama's Agriculture Department today announced that it will impose a new 15-cent charge on all fresh...…
Paul Krugman recently lamented the fact that in recent years, “manufacturing, once America’s greatest strength, seemed...…
Congress is back, but before Members head home again to campaign, they have to first do what they do best: spend other...…
It’s rather ironic that the activists who routinely lament government’s failure to protect public health are among the...…
Ernesto Londono