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In 2021, 125 farmers in cities within Caldwell County received a total of $702,947 in 232 farm subsidies, a 64.4% decrease compared to 2020, when the total was $2 million in 410 farm subsidies.
Though farm subsidies support agriculture in the U.S., pumping $7 trillion into the economy, they are not without controversy.
The American Action Forum discovered that the most highly subsidized crops - corn, soy, wheat, and rice - are often consumed in highly processed ways, which leads to unhealthy eating habits and obesity, while the fruits and vegetables needed for a healthy diet are rarely subsidized.
"We are consuming more calories, fats, sodium, and sugars, and not enough beneficial nutrients and vitamins," Tara O'Neill Hayes wrote. "It is critical that both policymakers and the American public understand the influence that federal agricultural subsidies have on our food supply and diet and, in turn, our nutrition and health."
Farm subsidies have also been criticized for assisting the highest-earning agricultural businesses, not local farmers on their family farms who are barely getting by.
Kimberly Amadeo of The Balance said farmer subsidies "help high-income corporations, not poor rural farmers. Most of the money goes toward large agribusinesses."
The U.S. has provided farm subsidies since the Great Depression to assist farmers who weather price fluctuations and disasters, to help maintain consistent farming across the country.
| Farmer | Total Received in 2020 | Total Received in 2021 | % Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ronald Hohertz | $234,426 | $103,143 | -56% |
| William R. Clark | $418,292 | $86,069 | -79.4% |
| Three Stick Ranch, Ltd. | $49,288 | $48,692 | -1.2% |
| Kenneth R. Niemann | $122,301 | $39,770 | -67.5% |
| Langford Cattle Company, LLC | $68,762 | $30,425 | -55.8% |
| Edward N. Cole Jr. | $83,278 | $27,400 | -67.1% |
| Thomas E. Blackwell | $70,347 | $20,946 | -70.2% |
| Rudolph E. Schroeder | $52,227 | $20,344 | -61% |
| William E. Selman | $45,366 | $19,963 | -56% |
| Rodney L. Purswell | $57,087 | $18,490 | -67.6% |
| Robert Terrell McGee | $38,308 | $14,691 | -61.7% |
| Reginald William Brown | $39,921 | $13,806 | -65.4% |
| Kelly Gene Buehring | $16,922 | $13,169 | -22.2% |
| Troy Andrew Freeman | $6,413 | $10,840 | 69% |
| William P. Stromberg | $11,103 | $10,521 | -5.2% |
| Alexander Cattle Company, Ltd. | $43,567 | $10,349 | -76.2% |
| James Kaluza | $13,581 | $9,293 | -31.6% |
| Ronald G. Wingard | $33,344 | $8,912 | -73.3% |
| Rusty R. Barker | $19,247 | $8,090 | -58% |
| Reinhart Homann | $33,132 | $7,218 | -78.2% |
| Young Family Farm, LLC | $5,187 | $7,152 | 37.9% |
| Jearl Dean Ledbetter | $20,339 | $6,992 | -65.6% |
| Thomas F Raemsch | $9,061 | $6,583 | -27.3% |
| Charles D Spillmann | $15,337 | $6,267 | -59.1% |
| Kemp Angus Farm, LLC | $0 | $6,066 | -- |
| Brian C. Dailey | $22,017 | $5,949 | -73% |
| Black Ankle LP | $18,835 | $5,697 | -69.8% |
| Rose E. McDonald | $6,769 | $5,288 | -21.9% |
| Roy C. McDonald | $0 | $5,185 | -- |
| Joshua Troy Turner | $2,461 | $4,645 | 88.7% |
| Jimmie E. King | $15,229 | $4,619 | -69.7% |
| Genia Ayers | $23,597 | $4,594 | -80.5% |
| Alton E. Homann | $20,631 | $4,150 | -79.9% |
| Ralph K. Williams | $11,070 | $3,984 | -64% |
| Donald F. Graham | $8,449 | $3,827 | -54.7% |
| Ignacio Sandoval | $5,367 | $3,477 | -35.2% |
| Jesse Johnny Barron | $12,362 | $3,306 | -73.3% |
| Winn Schroeder | $13,178 | $3,243 | -75.4% |
| Jordan Hinckley | $9,330 | $3,226 | -65.4% |
| Jesse T. Staton | $10,409 | $3,006 | -71.1% |
| William P. Davenport | $0 | $2,917 | -- |
| Kareem James Lewis | $6,690 | $2,681 | -59.9% |
| William R. Buckner | $9,865 | $2,573 | -73.9% |
| William A. Harrison III | $3,735 | $2,530 | -32.3% |
| Young Family Revocable Living Trust | $6,224 | $2,277 | -63.4% |
| Joe M. Kelly Jr. | $10,420 | $2,271 | -78.2% |
| SHB Family LP | $5,327 | $2,250 | -57.8% |
| Jonelle Frerich | $7,799 | $2,208 | -71.7% |
| Ira Fitzhugh Lee | $5,989 | $2,164 | -63.9% |
| Richard Martinez | $4,626 | $2,159 | -53.3% |
| MNO Farms, LLC | $7,083 | $2,133 | -69.9% |
| Dana Kaye Norris | $8,192 | $2,111 | -74.2% |
| Edgar a Bock Field Family Limited Partnership | $0 | $2,074 | -- |
| Coley H. Salge | $12,545 | $1,988 | -84.2% |
| Thomas E. Sliter | $1,519 | $1,819 | 19.7% |
| Roger Smith | $2,981 | $1,795 | -39.8% |
| Rancho 2R, LLC | $7,788 | $1,768 | -77.3% |
| J & W Cattle | $8,476 | $1,763 | -79.2% |
| James Paul Bonn | $3,591 | $1,756 | -51.1% |
| Otho Kavanaugh Duboise IV | $0 | $1,701 | -- |
| Lorraine A. Meitler | $6,413 | $1,679 | -73.8% |
| Frederick Christian Schneider | $3,239 | $1,623 | -49.9% |
| Jaclyn Ann Westmoreland | $3,501 | $1,623 | -53.6% |
| Emil H. Niemann | $6,100 | $1,556 | -74.5% |
| Nancy Brown | $0 | $1,422 | -- |
| Cherrie Jo Witter | $0 | $1,320 | -- |
| Arlene E. Carter | $3,596 | $1,316 | -63.4% |
| Thomas J. Barron | $4,984 | $1,304 | -73.8% |
| Rueben L. Niemann | $5,860 | $1,293 | -77.9% |
| Oscar H. Fogle | $2,640 | $1,196 | -54.7% |
| Robert Dylla | $1,774 | $1,195 | -32.6% |
| Richard O. Johnson | $1,551 | $1,189 | -23.3% |
| Gary Dickenson | $9,347 | $1,136 | -87.8% |
| Don R. Schulle | $2,142 | $1,094 | -48.9% |
| La Nell Cornelius McClinton | $4,448 | $1,056 | -76.3% |
| Mark Brown | $3,592 | $992 | -72.4% |
| Hiram M. Brown | $4,890 | $949 | -80.6% |
| James M. Myers | $0 | $886 | -- |
| Dorothy June Vogel | $1,847 | $832 | -55% |
| William C Koctar | $1,265 | $830 | -34.4% |
| Kristopher Frey | $0 | $825 | -- |
| Joe Lee Alonzo | $2,541 | $794 | -68.8% |
| Thomas L. McDonald | $6,100 | $782 | -87.2% |
| Claire Conley Selman Trust | $349 | $759 | 117.5% |
| Johnny H Siemering Estate | $724 | $745 | 2.9% |
| Rodney Germer | $1,807 | $710 | -60.7% |
| Wayne D. Walther | $1,029 | $687 | -33.2% |
| James E. Schroeder | $1,232 | $659 | -46.5% |
| James Howard Bagwell | $1,907 | $584 | -69.4% |
| Silva Bros Farms | $681 | $547 | -19.7% |
| Bodemann Family Farm, LLC | $986 | $531 | -46.1% |
| Mary Faye Barnes | $1,361 | $512 | -62.4% |
| Thomas A. Ohlendorf | $2,619 | $506 | -80.7% |
| Johnny L. Barron | $2,266 | $482 | -78.7% |
| Wallace Pansy | $1,964 | $452 | -77% |
| Randall A. Homann | $2,292 | $390 | -83% |
| Dorothy Keenan | $1,718 | $366 | -78.7% |
| Chad Raemsch | $1,943 | $363 | -81.3% |
| Kenneth R. Schawe | $1,507 | $352 | -76.6% |
| Bruce Germer | $1,360 | $350 | -74.3% |
| Troy Houser | $4,746 | $345 | -92.7% |
| Kemp Farm Properties, LLC | $0 | $338 | -- |
| W E Perriraz | $220 | $335 | 52.3% |
| Angel Wings Ranch | $777 | $332 | -57.3% |
| Claire C. Selman | $878 | $301 | -65.7% |
| Sarah Morris | $462 | $281 | -39.2% |
| Roger a Maupin - Maupin Living Trust | $640 | $275 | -57% |
| Manumit Investment Group, LLC | $1,650 | $271 | -83.6% |
| Warren W. Kaufman | $869 | $260 | -70.1% |
| Mary L. Dearing | $0 | $235 | -- |
| John Cheatham | $765 | $232 | -69.7% |
| Robert J. Cheatham | $941 | $190 | -79.8% |
| Janey Mae Evans | $383 | $161 | -58% |
| Angela Kolb | $1,011 | $155 | -84.7% |
| Douglas L. Schnautz | $441 | $144 | -67.3% |
| Kevin Schnautz | $441 | $144 | -67.3% |
| Lisa Leverett | $628 | $141 | -77.5% |
| Doris S. Marshall | $495 | $130 | -73.7% |
| Charles A. Meitler | $566 | $121 | -78.6% |
| Jacquelyn Niemann | $566 | $121 | -78.6% |
| John Vira | $83 | $91 | 9.6% |
| Sharon Truett | $326 | $79 | -75.8% |
| James L. Ringelstetter | $184 | $25 | -86.4% |
| Corey Humphrey | $53 | $19 | -64.2% |
| Don W. Allen | $413 | $9 | -97.8% |
| Carmen Kelley | $2,145 | $0 | -100% |
| Carole D. McGregor | $114 | $0 | -100% |
| Don Barron | $1,815 | $0 | -100% |
| Edgar a Bock Field Family Limited | $5,846 | $0 | -100% |
| Jamey Lee Gage | $8,085 | $0 | -100% |
| John R Murphy | $2,046 | $0 | -100% |
| Johnny H. Siemering | $797 | $0 | -100% |
| Kenneth Joe Johnson | $1,543 | $0 | -100% |
| Nancy B. Brown | $3,360 | $0 | -100% |
| Otho K Duboise IV | $6,531 | $0 | -100% |
| Swift River Pecans, LLC | $12,205 | $0 | -100% |
| The Pecan Barn, LLC | $563 | $0 | -100% |
| Tom D. Bonn | $351 | $0 | -100% |
| Virginia Hughes | $1,168 | $0 | -100% |
| Whitney Ellen Beissner | $60 | $0 | -100% |
| Booker & Son Cattle Company | $1,320 | $0 | -100% |
| Francisco Sanchez | $1,641 | $0 | -100% |
| Jennifer L. Hutchins | $395 | $0 | -100% |
| VNS & CLS Farms, LLC | $4,949 | $0 | -100% |
| Total subsidies | $1,973,437 | $702,947 | -64.4% |
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