George Will writes today about Sen. Richard Lugar's attempt to shift farm policy from subsidies to rural development:
An Eagle Scout and Rhodes scholar, Lugar became mayor of Indianapolis at 35. There he achieved the consolidation of the city and county, which brought into the city hitherto suburban tax resources - and the 604-acre Lugar farm. On it he raises corn, soybeans and black walnut trees. Because his trees sequester carbon, he participates in the trading of carbon allotments. Farmer Lugar is up to date.
Farm policy is not. Farm lobbyists have toiled to preserve the New Deal approach. They stress the romance of the family farm, but their fog of sentimentality obscures pertinent facts:
Fifty-seven percent of farms receive no payments and two-thirds of those that do receive less than $10,000. The largest 8 percent of farms receive 58 percent of the payments. Farms with revenues of $250,000 or more receive payments averaging $70,000. Lugar wants to redirect the flow of federal funds, from subsidizing favored crops to rural development, because fewer than 14 percent of residents in rural areas work on farms.
On a different yet related note, I went to Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix last night. The best Harry Potter film yet. I also happened to hear on the radio yesterday that the high price of corn is driving up the cost of popcorn. As of yet, no signs of that at the movie theater.
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