Common Misconceptions

It’s a common belief that all farmers are rich beyond their wildest dreams and are just sitting on piles of money accumulated from each year’s successful cash crop. Even many members of Congress seem to have fallen for this hook, line, and sinker. That’s why they’re so ready to cut federal ag spending, be it for research, crop insurance, or direct payments. Just last week the Government Accountability Office cited “record on farm income” in releasing a report where it proposed cutting $1 billion from the federal crop insurance program by capping the government paid producer insurance premium subsidy at $40 thousand a year. Farmers and ranchers are used to being taken for granted, but they shouldn’t have to be. In reality, there are good times and there are bad. We can all relate to that, whether we’re farmers or not. It’s just a fact of life. To craft a federal budget or Farm Bill on the pretext that the ag sector will continue to do as well as it is right now is unrealistic and just plain foolhardy. Farmers and ranchers are quite aware of this. Now how do they get that message across to the people who hold their economic future in the palms of their hands?