Research

Is Federal Crop Insurance Policy Leading to Another Dust Bowl?

March 22, 2017

Is Federal Crop Insurance Policy Leading to Another Dust Bowl?

Meat and Dairy Alternatives

Factory Farms

North Carolina

Exposing Fields of Filth in North Carolina

June 21, 2016

North Carolina boasts the nation's second biggest hog farming industry, worth $3 billion in hog and pig sales in 2012 alone, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It ranks third among the...

The "Farm Crisis" Myth

May 17, 2016

There's a lot of doom and gloom in the air about the state of the farm economy. As commodity prices continue to fall from the historic highs of the last few years, advocates for the agriculture...

Crop Insurance Lottery

February 10, 2016

It's a complete misnomer even to call the federal crop insurance program “insurance.” It works nothing like the private insurance market because taxpayers pay about 60 percent of the premiums, all the...

Cutting the Fat

December 3, 2015

The cost to taxpayers of providing crop insurance to farmers has more than tripled since 2001, rising from an average of about $3 billion a year in 2001-2003 to more than $10 billion a year in 2012...

Crying Wolf

November 16, 2015

The congressional budget deal signed by President Obama in early November includes a cost-saving measure that trims the profits taxpayers guarantee the crop insurance industry. The guaranteed rate of...

Crop Insurance

November 5, 2015

The federal crop insurance program has come under attack for its increasing cost, environmental impacts and secrecy. But the farm lobby, the crop insurance industry and their political patrons...

Boondoggle

April 28, 2015

The so-called “prevented planting” component of the federal crop insurance program is wasting billions of dollars while encouraging growers to plow up wildlife-sustaining wetlands in the iconic...

Food

Debunking the Myth that GE Crops Reduce Soil Loss

October 9, 2014

Defenders of genetically engineered crops regularly claim that these varieties cut erosion by encouraging farmers to use tillage practices that enhance soil conservation.

Cutting Waste in the Crop Insurance Program

December 19, 2013

Congress could dramatically cut spending on the federal crop insurance program without sacrificing anything other than the political objective of propping up a crop insurance industry that only exists...

Forbes Fat Cats Collect Taxpayer-Funded Farm Subsidies

November 7, 2013

The federal government paid out $11.3 million in taxpayer-funded farm subsidies to 50 billionaires or farm businesses in which they had an interest between 1995 and 2012, and changes to the farm bill...

Pumped Up

October 10, 2013

Supporters of the House and Senate versions of the stalled farm bill are arguing that they represent historic reform because both would replace Direct Payments with a suite of new subsidies designed...

Taxpayers, Crop Insurance, and the Drought of 2012

May 1, 2013

There were two reasons that Environmental Working Group commissioned agricultural economist Bruce Babcock of Iowa State University to analyze how the heavily subsidized federal crop insurance program...

The Downfall of Direct Payments

May 1, 2013

Starting in the 1930s, U.S. farm programs focused on reducing crop surpluses and sending checks to farmers when crop prices fell.

Plowed Under

August 6, 2012

High crop prices and unlimited crop insurance subsidies contributed to the loss of more than 23 million acres of grassland, shrub land and wetlands between 2008 and 2011, wiping out habitat that...

Impact of Scaling Back

July 11, 2012

View and Download the report here: Impact of Scaling Back Crop Insurance Premium Subsidies

Food

Healthy Food Gets Short Shrift

May 17, 2012

Fruit and vegetable growers have historically been left out of agriculture policy, even though they provide foods that are vital for improving America's nutrition and reducing the costly toll of diet...

Giving It Away Free

April 1, 2012

View and Download the report here: Giving it Away Free A simple, free program to insure farmers against actual crop losses at full market price would be cheaper and fairer than today's hopelessly...

Conservation Compliance

February 15, 2012

America's farmers need a safety net, but so do the rich soil and clean water that sustain not just agriculture but the entire fabric of American society.

Congress Must Finally Put an End to Direct Payments

November 9, 2011

Direct payment farm subsidies are in the budget crosshairs and may at long last be eliminated as Congress works to reduce the federal deficit. These long-discredited subsidies send checks out year...

Identifying Congress Members Who Get Farm Subsidies

March 29, 2011

Sorting out the details of USDA's farm subsidy data and Congressional disclosure forms is a difficult process. Records don't always match up; details appear one place but not another. And USDA, taking...

Farm Subsidies in California:

May 1, 2010

Although cotton and rice constitute a tiny portion of California's nation-leading farm production, those two crops – rather than the state's vast harvest of fruits and vegetables – continue to get the...

On The Hook: Commercial Fishing Reaps Billions

March 2, 2009

U.S. taxpayers doled out more than $6.4 billion in subsidies to the commercial fishing industry between 1996 and 2004, possibly accelerating the ongoing collapse of fish stocks worldwide and adding to...