7-5 FB Farm Bill Adjunct

 A different twist on the farm bill.

 There was all kinds of debate going on in Washington over the farm bill and amongst other things that  were being discussed  were subsidies for farmers. We’ve done stories in the past about the public perception that farmers are pampered because they are guaranteed subsidies. People say that farmers just like any other business should be vulnerable to the business climate. And of course is a lot of resentment about how much money is dedicated to protecting farmers in the forms of crop insurance, subsidies etc. Well, Dick Rush of the Boise Farm Service Agency brought something to my attention and I in turn want you folks to hear an important adjunct to the farm bill. “The other thing I will say about this farm bill is that the biggest part of it, 80%, doesn’t have anything to do with farmers. Its nutrition programs, the SNAP program, the Women Infant Children and all those kinds of programs that people have opinions on as well but the big debate as far as expenditures in that farm bill aren’t going to be the checks that may go to farmers but they are the costs of those kind of nutrition programs, a lot of people don’t realize that that is the biggest part of the so-called farm bill.