The Environmental Working Group reports that since Trump began writing checks to make farmers forget about the harm his tariffs have done to them and the free market, farmers in Brown, Spink, and Roberts counties have taken the biggest gulps of new welfare dependency under the Market Facilitation Program in South Dakota:
Brown County farmers have taken $39.2 million to shut up about the trade war and keep voting for Trump. Spink County farmers have taken $34.4 million. Roberts, Beadle, and Minnehaha counties have each seen more than $20 million in farmer tariff reparations. Eleven more counties—Charles Mix, Brookings, Edmunds, Moody, Hand, Day, Kingsbury, Turner, Hutchinson, Clark, and Lake—have each received over $15 million in MFP payments.
South Dakota’s MFP total is $665 million, the tenth-largest state total. Illinois, Iowa, and Minnesota have each received over a billion in Trumpfare checks. Not every farmer in every state has taken a Trump bribe; however, if we divide total MFP payments from 2018 through October 2019 by the total number of farms in each state, we can see with pride that South Dakota is receiving the third-most Trumpfare per farm in the U.S.A.!
| State | MFP payments through Oct 31, 2019 | # farms (2018) | MFP/farm |
| North Dakota | $784,584,127 | 26,100 | $30,060 |
| Illinois | $1,726,421,443 | 72,000 | $23,978 |
| South Dakota | $665,397,312 | 29,600 | $22,479 |
| Nebraska | $981,841,908 | 45,900 | $21,390 |
| Iowa | $1,680,012,113 | 86,000 | $19,535 |
| Minnesota | $1,151,207,148 | 68,500 | $16,805 |
| Indiana | $892,284,084 | 56,100 | $15,905 |
| Kansas | $934,931,005 | 58,900 | $15,873 |
| Arkansas | $447,762,246 | 42,500 | $10,535 |
| Mississippi | $358,922,041 | 34,700 | $10,343 |
| Ohio | $675,680,050 | 77,800 | $8,684 |
| Delaware | $17,201,192 | 2,300 | $7,478 |
| Missouri | $689,889,591 | 95,000 | $7,262 |
| Michigan | $289,487,128 | 47,000 | $6,159 |
| Louisiana | $166,677,941 | 27,400 | $6,083 |
| Georgia | $202,323,702 | 41,600 | $4,863 |
| Wisconsin | $314,969,202 | 64,800 | $4,860 |
| Maryland | $59,454,700 | 12,400 | $4,794 |
| Montana | $114,608,857 | 26,900 | $4,260 |
| North Carolina | $189,321,539 | 46,400 | $4,080 |
| Tennessee | $233,774,472 | 70,000 | $3,339 |
| Kentucky | $249,319,398 | 75,100 | $3,319 |
| Texas | $639,079,078 | 247,000 | $2,587 |
| Alabama | $95,047,727 | 39,700 | $2,394 |
| Washington | $83,607,588 | 35,700 | $2,341 |
| Idaho | $53,323,484 | 24,800 | $2,150 |
| South Carolina | $50,395,020 | 24,800 | $2,032 |
| California | $135,684,182 | 69,400 | $1,955 |
| Oklahoma | $150,637,049 | 77,300 | $1,948 |
| Arizona | $36,700,080 | 19,200 | $1,911 |
| New York | $63,676,449 | 33,400 | $1,906 |
| Virginia | $76,293,842 | 42,500 | $1,795 |
| Pennsylvania | $76,215,435 | 53,000 | $1,438 |
| Colorado | $55,202,651 | 38,900 | $1,419 |
| New Jersey | $10,296,017 | 9,900 | $1,040 |
| New Mexico | $22,681,020 | 24,700 | $918 |
| Vermont | $5,492,126 | 6,800 | $807 |
| Oregon | $29,973,223 | 37,200 | $805 |
| Nevada | $2,707,164 | 3,400 | $796 |
| Utah | $8,876,581 | 18,100 | $490 |
| Wyoming | $5,357,055 | 11,900 | $450 |
| Massachusetts | $2,395,112 | 7,200 | $332 |
| Florida | $13,357,837 | 47,500 | $281 |
| Maine | $2,068,302 | 7,600 | $272 |
| Connecticut | $912,031 | 5,500 | $165 |
| West Virginia | $3,117,764 | 23,400 | $133 |
| New Hampshire | $524,378 | 4,100 | $127 |
| Alaska | $85,338 | 1,000 | $85 |
| Rhode Island | $19,797 | 1,100 | $18 |
| Hawaii | $106,704 | 7,300 | $14 |
There’s still time to catch up with Illinois and North Dakota: USDA is taking applications for the second round of 2019 MFP payments through Friday, December 6. So Brown, Spink, Roberts, and the rest of you Trump-lovin’, welfare-slurpin’ South Dakota farmers, plow those driveways, and get in to your farm welfare office ASAP!
Nothing like socialist welfare checks to shut up wingnut’s whines about Socialism. :)
I’d like to see the breakdown of who in each county received funding.
Nailed it mfi, absolutely nailed it. No wonder they’re Chubby supporters, just more grifting while whining is typical corporate America. Fascism rules, look around you.
Not Mrs. Nelson Anymore, the individual information can be found on the Environmental Working Group website.
East River appears far more dependent on Ag Welfare than West River.
Maybe East River should start raising more cows instead of just farming – so that one day, in the future, they might not need so much welfare?
Since Economic Oaf’s trade war debacle, he’s gone directly to welfare bribes and it seems to be effective. Lot of Welfare Queens and Kings. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Sometimes stuff happens that is beyond the recipient’s control so they welcome the government to say, “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”
Farm programs rarely have anything for ranchers.
Perhaps broke farms in Brown and Spink Counties should have wind turbines installed (in convenient non-obstructive places) in order to help them get through the tough times and pad the savings account during the good times? You know, diversify and add to their income, so they can better pay their bills next year?
Oh no though, too many farmers know best, putting all their eggs into one welfare + trade war basket. They want everyone to think that they truly believe these recent welfare checks are only temporary because Ag markets will “fix themselves” now that farmers have “shown those Chinamen how tough they are.”
Rural support of Trump is absolute irrefutable proof that the majority of rurals are so isolated, radicalized and delusional that they’ve become their very own worst enemies. They/we (South Dakotans) need and deserve Federal emergency (temporary) supplemental education funding at 3x the national average per student rate as well as 3x the mental health coverage for adults (tax payer subsidized) in order to properly recognize how truly left behind and cognitively compromised rural folks have actually gotten, so that we can formally respect the dignity of their lives by acknowledging the severity and depth of the problem which America has created for itself: Rurals now prefer dictator personalities over sensible government and only more/better education and mental health services could ever address the problem at its heart.
Quid pro quo=BRIBES in these counties. There must be a whole lot of Ukrainians living there. The only thing missing is Rudy Giuliani, Chubby’s personal bag man.
Only rich farmers are gobbling up the bribes while the poor farmers are just plain dumb and poor to believe it’s gonna be better for them.
“Donald Trump promised he would help embattled small farmers caught in the crossfire of his trade war with China. But big farms so far have been the main beneficiaries of the billions of dollars being distributed in aid payments.
Half of the Trump administration’s latest trade-war bailout for farmers went to just a 10th of recipients in the program, according to an analysis of payments by an environmental organization. The study asserted that payouts have been skewed toward larger operations and wealthier producers.
The top 1% of beneficiaries from the trade aid received 13% of the money distributed in the first round of payments under this year’s Market Facilitation Program, with an average payment of more than $177,000. But the bottom 80% of recipients received an average payment of $5,136, according to the Environmental Working Group, which analyzed records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.” https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-11-21/trump-pledged-to-help-small-farms-but-aid-is-going-to-big-ones
Quid pro quo boys, let the bribing continue. A few billion here and a few billion there, it adds up but who really gives a damn out here in Chubby country. Dummy up and play it back.
Doling out welfare to farmers ‘gets help to those who need it the most’ like ‘welfare checks make it to Indians who need it the most on Reservations.’ The funding just… never… quite… makes it… where it’s supposed to go.
Farmers need to ask themselves why/how they have so much in common with Indians in poor Reservations, and they need to find their own (white) Jesse Jackson & Al Sharpton type of figures to scapegoat for their fundamental shortcomings.
Which specific farmers are sucking up all the welfare? We need to know so that they can be sufficiently shamed for screwing the rest of the farmers out (or nearly out) of business. I’m sick of people pointing fingers at nebulous, near invisible, bad apples. Shine some light on these individual selfish bastards so that we can finally know who the hell is responsible for all this abuse of our tax dollars!
Not Mrs. N., the biggest farm Trumpfare queens in South Dakota so far are…
I’ve had a couple anonymous commenters (one who has yet to reply to my comment-moderation confirmation e-mail, another who used a fake e-mail and thus can’t be reached) who’ve taken varied shades of objection to this post.
One blames Democrats like me for rural America’s woes, because we write things like this that make farmers angry about their welfare dependence. I refuse to take the blame for problems caused by the people farmers vote for. If voters are going to put their personal pique and resentment over their economic self-interest and the public good, they don’t get to shift the blame to the folks offering them facts and rational policy.
Another (the fake e-mailer) just goes full r’ar! and tries to make it a cussword-frosted personal attack instead of focusing on the fact that Trump has made farmers even more dependent on government handouts and has no interest in pursuing any sort of comprehensive policy to make American agriculture great again. Our farmers’ well-being, like everything else, is utterly irrelevant to Trump, who only wants the laurels of “making a deal.”
An intelligent, empathetic President would study and propose a comprehensive agriculture policy that gives more small farmers viable market options that don’t depend on massive global corporate buyers or government handouts. But the Trump Administration has made clear that it views small farmers are socialist whiners who need to get big or get out but keep voting for Trump.
TARIFF NEGOTIATIONS … PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP IN LONDON this morning, sitting alongside NATO Secretary-General JENS STOLTENBERG during a 52-minute photo-op/press conference:
SIREN! … TRUMP said on the CHINA DEAL: “I have no deadline, no. In some ways I think it’s better to wait until after the election, if you want to know the truth. … In some ways I like waiting until after the election for the China deal.”
~ It might just be best for USA if we elect a new President before we make a deal with China. It would save the time needed to nullify any deal Trump could cobble together, designed of course to make himself more money. IMHO
I desperately need to know: Is the farm of Kristi Noem — governor of South Dakota — receiving this payment bribe?
Excellent question, Mary. None of the Noems or Arnolds appear to have received any MFP payments as of Oct 31, 2019.
But wait: EWG lists the Noem/Arnold family’s Racota Valley Ranch as receiving $345,775 in MFP
Cory, did you ever farm? Do other countries play fair with prices and subsidies? Did you have to make cash rent or land payments whether you could put in only 500 of your 2000 acres or no crop at all, buy additional corn and hay since you could raise none, make payments on equipment, still pay for crop insurance, not be able to buy better equipment and thus hurt the local implement dealer, have little money for groceries or other essentials thus hurting the local grocery store, church, school? Of course farmers get depressed. Farmers have guaranteed you quality, low cost food for years plus feeding parts of the world. Do you know anyone on food stamps? That is also part of the ag program. My father,a farmer, always said when farmers do well, so does the rest of a community. Hog prices, milk prices, it is all depressed. Banks back these and all are part of the food program who support this production. Who will raise food without farmers? Massive corporate groups? Maybe the government can take over all of the farms and run it successfully like the post office, veterans, and other highly successful government-run programs.
No, Gayle, but I’ve been called a socialist and unpatriotic and what-not for advocating that government provide assistance to people in need.
You said a lot, Gayle, but you didn’t deny the fact that South Dakota farmers are receiving hundreds of millions in government welfare checks to keep them from going under due to the damage done by our current reckless trade war.
But just to make sure, it sounds like you are saying farm subsidies are just like food stamps: reasonable socialist exercises of government power to keep all Americans well fed. Am I reading you correctly? Are you saying that government is good and necessary?
Post Office is run pretty well, a lot better than any other country. The Veterans Administration gets high marks from me as that has been my caretaker since I got shot when I was 19. Medicare runs very well, ask your father. Social Security is also government run. They give the money back that you paid in and then some.
I think the only government program that is run in the ditch is anything that is Republican led. Look around you here in South Dakota and tell me that I’m wrong.
Cory, indeed, it seems clear that Gayle is saying that very thing.
Too many farmers are just like Clayton Bigsby: the World’s Only Black White Supremacist, only instead of dark skinned people, they hate socialism.
Just imagine, an ‘Anti-Socialist Socialist.’ I know; funny right? Well, look no further than places like Wagner Farms in Miller, South Dakota.
Republicans campaign on the idea that government doesn’t work. Then they get elected and prove it.
P. J. O’Rourke.
Gayle, I grew up on a farm in Hand County and was directly involved in it, even though I worked elsewhere, for the first 30 years of my life. I experienced exactly what you described. We owned landed and rented, some for shares, most for cash. It was a struggle most of the time and my father’s depression became severe before my parents decided to sell in 1985.
I loved the farm and farming and farm life. I hated what it did to my parents, especially my father, who lacked the strength and resilience of my mother. I’m certain if not for her he would have died by suicide in the early 80s.