... The Commodity Credit Corporation would only make loans to farmers who had agreed to the government's production control policies. Similar adjustments had to be made after World War II and the Korean War. Most of the subsidies were payed out to the cotton, wheat, and feed grain industries (Agricultural Subsidies). Although many are against agricultural subsidies, there are some up sides to them. One of the biggest payoffs of government subsidies is that they keep our domestic industries running. Many farmers would be hurt by the low prices of foreign competition. The government allows farmers to sell at market cost or even below market cost and then makes up for it by giving the farmers money for staying within their quota. This allows farmers to make more of a profit without producing an excess of crops. Subsidies add income to what farmers make, which is important because the price of the product is lowest when being sold from the farmer to the free market. Subsidies also lend help to farmers who have a bad harvest of crops. Many factors influence the size of a crop a farmer has, including weather, insects, and the occasional fire. If the conditions are right, farmers can have great harvests every year, but that doesn't always happen. Most of the time when farmers have below average harvests, a drought is to blame. Even though the subsidy won't allow the farmer to gain as much money as a full crop would, it does allow him to make more money than if he had no subsidy to fall back on at all. One year when my family raised tobacco, we had a horribly dry summer, and it ruined our tobacco patch. Although we made little money on tobacco, we did get a check from the government for trying to raise to our quota. The problems with agricultural subsidies outweigh the benefits, however. ...
