The Environmental Working Group has released their updated Farm Subsidy Data Base. EWG Senior Analyst for Economics Ann (weer) Weir (shek-ing-gurr) Schechinger says between 2015 and 2016, farmers received ARC and PLC payments totaling more than $14 Billion.
She says her group’s main concern with the farm payments is that a large amount of those are going to the wealthiest agricultural operations.
Schechinger says EWG wants those farm payments to go to those who most need it and not to the larger and wealthier operators.
Schechinger says her group estimates taxpayers also provided farmers more than $ 11 billion in crop insurance premium support in 2015 and 2016 but federal law prohibits the USDA from disclosing crop insurance data by recipient.
