NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO • December 30, 2020
Congress approved about $35 billion in emergency aid to farmers on top of roughly $10 billion in traditional farm subsidies. In addition, farmers were able to tap billions of dollars in funding from the Paycheck Protection Program. The $46 billion in direct government payments to farmers in 2020 broke the previous annual record by about $10 billion, even after accounting for inflation. Total U.S. farm income in 2020 would have been about average, compared with the past 20 years, even without the emergency aid. Farmers didn't have to prove that they needed help in order to qualify for subsidies. Yet more money may be on the way. The latest coronavirus relief package, just approved by Congress, contains another $8 billion in payments to farmers.