Subsidies from the U.S. Department of Agriculture are a modern fact of life in Iowa and other states heavily dependent on their ag economies.
In fact, according to research conducted by an organization called the Environmental Working Group, the USDA has paid out over $424 billion in subsidies from 1995 through June 2020.
And having collected $35.5 billion during that span, Iowa ranks second among all states in total subsidy payments.
These subsidies included $22 billion for commodity programs, $6.5 billion for crop insurance, $6.1 billion for conservation programs (CRP), and $809 million for disaster relief programs.
(Incidentally, according to the USDA, 29 percent of all Iowa farms collected zero in subsidy payments between 1995 and this year.)
Ranked 76th in total subsidy collection among Iowa’s 99 counties, Ringgold County farms have collected $274 million in subsidies over the past 25 years.
These include $136 million in CRP, $77.8 million in commodities, $47 million in crop insurance, and $13.1 in disaster relief.
Other area counties also lagged toward the bottom of the list of subsidy payments: Taylor 68th, Adams 86th, Clarke 94th, Decatur 96th, and Union 97th.
In Ringgold County, one farm has received over $2 million in farm subsidies from 1995 through 2020 and another seven have received over $1 million during that time.
