U.S. Agricultural Programs: Who Pays?

?The Economist labeled the recently enacted 2008 farm bill 'A Harvest of Disgrace' (May 24, 2008). The five-year $307 billion bill, through a complicated system of government programs, lavishes cash on upper-income farm households. The major beneficiaries of U.S. agricultural programs, commercial farmers, will have an average income of some $230,000 in 2008, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The main restriction on these subsidies is a means test that applies to couples making more than $1.5 million per year.?