President Franklin D. Roosevelt started federal farm subsidies by signing the Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) on May 12, 1933. As part of the New Deal, the legislation aimed to stabilize the agricultural economy during the Great Depression by paying farmers to limit production and boost crop prices.
The federal government has been providing farm subsidies since 1933, when the first Farm Bill was passed as part of the New Deal to support struggling farms during the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl, and falling crop prices after World War I.
Our agency was created by a 1933 executive order of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Today the agency derives its authority from the Farm Credit Act of 1971, as amended.
The Senate bill was opposed by groups focusing on hunger due to its reduction in spending on food stamps.
The first Farm Bill, crafted in response to the dual crises of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl, was enacted in 1933 as part of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal.
Rollins was the organization's President and CEO until March 2025. On November 23, 2024, President-elect Donald Trump nominated Rollins to serve as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. On February 13, 2025, the U.S. Senate confirmed Rollins as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture by a 72–28 vote.
The largest U.S. farm subsidy recipients often include large agricultural corporations like Riceland Foods Inc. and Producers Rice Mill, alongside government entities such as the Farm Services Agency, with significant funds also going to large farms growing commodity crops like corn, soybeans, cotton, and rice, as well as wealthy individuals, foundations, and land management trusts. Recipients vary by program, but data from 1995-2024 shows major payouts to large commodity producers and entities like the Montana Dept. of Natural Resources & Conservation, highlighting that large-scale operations and non-traditional farm entities receive substantial aid.
The classic economic argument against the use of subsidies is that they cause a misalignment between prices and production costs. In doing so, they can distort markets, prevent efficient outcomes, and divert resources to less productive uses.
Taxes or the deficit would be lower, less agricultural products would be produced, and the listed price of food at the store would be higher.
Donald Trump's administration provided substantial financial aid to farmers, primarily through trade war relief and pandemic support, including billions in direct payments, while also focusing on deregulation, promoting conservation programs, and signing legislation like the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act. Key actions included massive bailouts during the China trade war, COVID-19 aid, and emergency disaster assistance, though some critics pointed to cuts in other USDA programs and issues with implementation, say Civil Eats and National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.
Farm subsidies are intended to be consumer-friendly and taxpayer-friendly. Instead, they cost Americans billions each year in higher taxes and higher food costs.
Great music, supporting farmers, and strengthening America since 1985. Willie Nelson, Neil Young and John Mellencamp organized the first Farm Aid concert in 1985 to raise awareness about the loss of family farms and to raise funds to keep farm families on the land.
Farm subsidies provided by the federal government are supposed to help agricultural producers manage the variations in agricultural production and profitability from year to year - due to variations in weather, market prices, and other factors - while ensuring a stable food supply.
Government support for Canadian agriculture is around 8.2 per cent of gross farm receipts, says the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. That's slightly higher than the United States but less than the average agricultural subsidies of 13.2 per cent in the OECD, a group with 38 member countries.
Subsidies mostly support wealthy farmers
(See Figure 2.) So this near-record amount of farm subsidies was distributed at a time when crop prices and farm incomes were at an all-time high and many farmers did not need the support for their farms to survive. Farm income was the highest ever in 2022 at $196.4 billion.
The US spends approximately $9.3B on farm subsidies annually(2024 numbers, covid had some weird variations). Total farm income for the same year was about $550B. So, without the subsidies, on average, one could expect raw food prices to rise a couple of percent.
The Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) of 1933 was a United States federal law of the New Deal era designed to boost agricultural prices by reducing surpluses. The government bought livestock for slaughter and paid farmers subsidies not to plant on part of their land.
Between 1985 and 2024, farm subsidy programs paid farmers when crop prices fell below price guarantees set in the farm bill or when crop revenues fell below averages. Between 1996 and 2014, farmers also received “direct” subsidy payments linked to historic crop production.
Gates' farms grow crops such as potatoes, carrots, onions, corn, sweet corn and alfalfa on 275,000 acres in 18 states. All of these crops, except carrots, are eligible for crop insurance subsidies.
It depends on the type of subsidy, but often yes, especially with health insurance subsidies (ACA Premium Tax Credits) if your income is higher than estimated, requiring repayment at tax time (though caps used to apply); however, some subsidies, like Cost-Sharing Reductions (CSRs), don't need repayment, while other government assistance, like some mortgages, have specific recapture clauses for repayment upon selling property.
Donald Trump's administration provided substantial financial aid to farmers, primarily through trade war relief and pandemic support, including billions in direct payments, while also focusing on deregulation, promoting conservation programs, and signing legislation like the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act. Key actions included massive bailouts during the China trade war, COVID-19 aid, and emergency disaster assistance, though some critics pointed to cuts in other USDA programs and issues with implementation, say Civil Eats and National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.
The economy is growing at about the same pace as it did in Obama's last years, and unemployment, while lower under Trump, has continued a trend that began in 2011." Nominal wages, consumer and business confidence, and manufacturing job creation (initially) compared favorably, while government debt, trade deficits, and ...
In protest, President Jimmy Carter stopped the shipment of farm products to the Soviet Union, costing the American farmer a crucial overseas market. Wendell Tuttle: When President Carter put the grain embargo on, I had several hundred bushels of grain in bins. And, like I say, my net worth dropped $20,000 overnight.