EWG/FARM SUBSIDIES

Hi there. My group has a new report (and database) on the farm subsidy bonus in the emergency spending bill the Senate will act on this week. Since you blog on ag I thought you might be interested in hearing about the bottom line.

While we're unable to provide troops in Iraq with sufficient body armor, we're ready to give away $1.5 billion in subsidies, with 10% of the recipients raking in 60% of the money. Truly big operations will get bonuses of more than $100,000 apiece while 300,000 recipients will receive less than $100. And at least 9% of the bonus (hovering around $138 million) will go to "farmers" who own land but don't actually farm it themselves.

A list of the top recipients is here:
http://www.ewg.org/reports/agsupp2006/top_recips.php? fips=00000&progcode=total_dp

Our report is here:
http://www.ewg.org/reports/agsupp2006/

And we've got plenty of searchable database goodness here (scroll down):
http://www.ewg.org/reports/agsupp2006/region.php?fips=00000

Hope you find the information interesting!


Best wishes,

Carrie Gouldin
Environmental Working Group
1436 U Street NW, Suite 100
Washington, DC 20009
202-667-6982 Phone
202-232-2592 Fax
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