Big Area Farm Operations Could Take A Hit If Proposed Subsidy Cuts Pass Congress

Past presidents, including George W. Bush, have tried to pare back subsidy payments to American farmers, only to find a powerful farm lobby melded to an unwilling Congress.

Now, President Barack Obama will try it again. His proposed budget for 2010 would phase out fixed annual payments to farm operations with more than $500,000 in annual sales. Instead, much of that money would be spent on child nutrition programs.

If President Obama has more success at cutting subsidies than his predecessors, big Texas farmers could be among the hardest hit (the top 10% of subsidiy recipients wound up receiving close to 60% of all direct subsidy payments, according to database research by Environmental Working Group).

In 2007, Texas ranked No. 3 in the nation in terms of the total amount of direct payment farm subsidies, with more than $397 million.

Fort Bend isn’t among the top Texas counties receiving such subsidies from the federal government. Nonetheless, Fort Bend County farm operations have received more than $133 million in direct payment subsidies between 1999 and 2007.

Just across the line to the south, Wharton County farmers have done much better in the direct subsidy department. Wharton has ranked at or near the top, and its farm operations have received more than $447 million in direct subsidy payments over the same time period, according to EWG data.

Prices for cotton, rice and other grains were relatively high in 2007, earning record income for some farms, which may in part account for the fact that direct farm subsidy payments to Fort Bend farmers dropped from $10.1 million in 2006 to $3.6 million in 2007.

Another factor may be the rapid residential growth the county has experienced, whereby farmland has been converted to master-planned communities.

It’s difficult from available records to tell what farming operations have annual revenue of more than $500,000, which would trigger a subsidy cut-off under the Obama budget.

But a list of Fort Bend County’s largest direct subsidy recipients for 2007 is topped by Franz Farms II Partnership of Katy, which received $129,208 in direct subsidy payments that year, according to EWG data.

A partnership made up mostly of members of the Franz family of Katy and Brookshire, the group farms in Fort Bend, Harris and Waller counties and has been a steady recipient of direct subsidies over the years, receiving a high of more than $556,000 in 2003, with 2007′s payments representing a 13-year low.

Other top direct farm subsidy recipients in 2007, according to the EWG list:

No. 2 Gerson Farms Partnership of Lissie, with $95,075 in directo 2007 subsidies;

No. 3 Eajl Wendt Farms of Richmond, 2007 subsidies totaling $88,964;

No. 4 Usb Joint Venture of Richmond, 2007 subsidies of $77,460;

No. 5 Frankie & Nancy Stasney of Beasley, $76,396;

In addition to including much smaller direct subsidy payments to Fort Bend farmers than past years, the 2007 top recipient list did not include some prominant players who have historically received significant direct subsidies.

Among those is Richmond Irrigation Co., which received more than $4.5 million in direct payment subsidies between 1995 and 2006, but wasn’t among the 2007 top recipients. By far the bulk of the subsidies the company received were for rice.

Richmond Irrigation is owned by more than 25 individuals and business entities, including some of the area’s oldest farming families, such as the Wendts.

Another prominent farming operation, which received nearly $1.5 million in direct subsidies from 1995 to 2006, but dropped from the top of the 2007 list, is the George Foundation, owner of the historic George Ranch. It’s top year as a direct subsidy recipient was 2002, when the foundation received more than $230,000. But in 2007, it received less than $25,000 in direct subsidies.

For a sortable database showing a variety of information about farm subsidy recipients in Texas and elsewhere, visit the EWG’s web-based Farm Subsidy Database.