As a bipartisan conference committee meets this week in an effort to hammer out differences over the Farm Bill, we’re sure to be reminded of the roughly 47 million Americans who use SNAP, the program formerly known as “food stamps.”
But while SNAP accounts for a hefty majority of the Farm Bill’s costs, low-income Americans receiving nutrition assistance aren’t the only ones who benefit from the legislation. More than 50 billionaires raked in a combined $11.3 million in farm subsidies between 1995 and 2012, according to the Environmental Working Group.
The billionaires benefiting from farm subsidies include high-profile names like Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen (worth $15.8 billion), Chick-fil-A founder S. Truett Cathy (worth $6 billion), Charles Schwab, founder of the eponymous brokerage (worth $5.1 billion) and former CEO of Chase Manhattan Bank David Rockefeller Sr. (worth $2.8 billion). U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker (worth $2.2 billion) also makes the list.
To qualify for the total of $11.3 million in subsidies a billionaire had to do a couple things: 1) have had an ownership interest in a farm or a farming company, and 2) either own land that has a history of producing a subsidized crop or, to qualify for “counter-cyclical payments,” be actually growing a crop that sees a drop in value below a minimum guaranteed threshold.
According to EWG, the $11.3 million figure probably understates the true amount of government aid billionaires receive from the farm bill. Many of those on their list are involved in producing crops including corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton and sorghum, for which they’re likely to receive crop insurance subsidies, EWG says. There’s no way to tell for certain, though, since public disclosure of the identities of crop insurance policyholders isn’t required under current law.
It’s likely that opportunities for billionaires to receive government aid will grow under the next iteration of the farm bill. The Senate version includes a so-called “means testing” measure, in which crop insurance subsidies would be reduced, though not eliminated, for producers with on-farm incomes over $750,000. What that figure doesn’t include is income made off the farm, so Paul Allen’s stock in Microsoft isn’t factored in when calculating for his eligibility. The competing House version does not include a means testing measure.
“The Senate bill is much more in keeping with previous versions of the Farm Bill,” Saul Jackson, a fellow at the Brookings Institution, told TIME. “The House is where you’re seeing more radical changes.”
The bill coming out of the GOP-led House seeks a more drastic cutback on spending. Most of the cuts in the House bill would be to SNAP programs for low-income Americans, but $12.9 billion in cuts come from the non-nutrition part of the bill by seeking to pull back on direct payments to crop producers. Both the Senate and House bills move away from traditional farm subsidies and toward crop insurance premium subsidies, but the House version goes even further, increasing the cost of insurance subsidies by $9 billion versus the Senate’s increase of $5 billion.
“We’re going from a transparent and somewhat equitable safety net to a less transparent and more inequitable safety net,” Scott Faber, a vice president for the Environmental Working Group told TIME. Whereas means testing has long been a part of the picture in traditional subsidies paid directly to producers, Faber said, crop insurance subsidies haven’t included means testing, nor have they had disclosure requirements on who gets insurance subsidies, or limits on how much subsidy a beneficiary can receive.
Unlike the old direct payment system, to qualify for crop insurance premium subsidies you do have to be actually growing a crop (or trying to). So if you happen to be a billionaire, you might consider the age-old advice to buy land. God ain’t making any more of it and if you play your cards right a hard-scrabble piece of worn-out earth could help you get on the dole.
Here’s the EWG’s full list of billionaires receiving farm subsidies.
|
Name |
Source of Farm Subsidies |
|
Paul Allen |
Kona Residence Trust, which received $14,429 in barley subsidies from 1996 to 2006. |
|
Philip Anschutz |
Clm Company, which received $553,323 in cotton, wheat, sorghum, corn, oat, barley and other farm subsidies from 1995 to 2003.Equus Farms, which received $53,191 in livestock subsidies in 2002. |
|
John Arrillaga |
Peery & Arrillaga, which received $59,711 in wheat, sorghum, corn, barley, safflower and other farm subsidies from 1995 to 2006. |
|
Lee Bass |
Panther City Cattle Company, which received $823,129 in cotton, wheat, corn and sorghum subsidies from 2000 to 2007.El Coyote Ranch, which received $297,950 in wheat, sorghum, corn, soybean, oat and barley subsidies from 1995 to 2002. |
|
Riley Bechtel |
Fremont Investors, which received $484,283 in rice and other farm subsidies from 1995 to 2003. |
|
Stephen Bechtel, Jr. |
Fremont Investors, which received $484,283 in rice and other farm subsidies from 1995 to 2003.Wild Goose Club, which received $947 in farm subsidies from 2006 to 2010. |
|
Eli Broad |
Placer Ranch Partners LP, which received $56,880 in wheat and rice subsidies from 1995 to 2005. |
|
S. Truett Cathy |
Rock Ranch LLC, which received $4,536 in livestock subsidies in 2003. |
|
Gayle Cook |
Cedar Farm Harrison County Inc., which received $41,141 in soybean, corn and tobacco subsidies from 1998 to 2003. |
|
Richard DeVos |
Ada Holdings LLC, which received $37,986 in corn, wheat and soybean subsidies from 2001 to 2006. |
|
Charles Ergen
|
Telluray Ranch, which received $117,826 in crop and livestock disaster payments from 2002 to 2008. |
|
Gerald J. Ford |
Rio Hondo Land & Cattle Co. Inc., which received $222,433 in wool subsidies from 1995 to 2003. |
|
Harold Hamm |
$26,785 in wheat subsidies and disaster payments from 1995 to 2002.Continental Resources of Illinois, which received $318 in disaster payments, corn and soybean subsidies from 2003 to 2004. |
|
Diane Hendricks |
H&H Farms of Wisconsin Inc., which received $379,933 in corn, soybean, wheat, oat and other farm subsidies from 1998 to 2001. |
|
Ray Lee Hunt |
Sharyland Limited Partnership, which received $110,270 in cotton, sorghum, sunflower and corn subsidies from 1998 to 2000.Hunt Oil Co., which received $49,381 in livestock subsidies in 2002. |
|
Paul Tudor Jones, II. |
Buck Ridge Farms LLC, which received $8,260 in crop disaster payments, cotton, soybean, sorghum and corn subsidies from 1998 to 2003.Tudor Farms Inc., which received $1 in sorghum subsidies in 1996. |
|
George Kaiser |
Kaiser-Francis Oil Company, which received $17,518 in wheat, sorghum and barley subsidies from 1996 to 2003. |
|
Jim Kennedy |
$37,162 in rice, corn, sorghum, wheat, soybean, sunflower and other farm subsidies from 1996 to 2004.York Woods At Yonkapin Cutoff LLC, which received $19,545 in rice, sorghum and soybean subsidies from 2002 to 2003. |
|
Henry Kravis |
M&T Chico Ranch, which received $511,633 in wheat, rice, corn, sorghum, sunflower, safflower, barley and other farm subsidies from 1995 to 2005.M&T Staten Ranch, which received $502,363 in corn and wheat subsidies from 1996 to 2002. |
|
Ann Walton Kroenke |
JL Walton Trust, which received $13,273 in corn, wheat, sorghum, soybean and oat subsidies from 1996 to 2002.St. Roberts Centers & Farms, which received $6,642 in corn, wheat, sorghum and soybean subsidies from 1996 to 2002.$378 in corn and sorghum subsidies in 1995. |
|
Leonard Lauder |
Horizon Organic Dairy Idaho Farm, which received $360,102 in wheat, diary, barley, corn and other farm subsidies from 1997 to 2004.Horizon Organic Dairy Maryland Farm, which received $202,088 in dairy, corn, soybean, wheat and other farm subsidies from 1998 to 2005. |
|
Nancy Walton Laurie |
JL Walton Trust, which received $13,273 in corn, wheat, sorghum, soybean and oat subsidies from 1996 to 2002.St. Roberts Centers & Farms, which received $6,642 in corn, wheat, sorghum and soybean subsidies from 1996 to 2002. |
|
Marianne Liebmann |
Morse Land Co. Ltd., which received $4,282 in livestock, barley, oat, wheat and other farm subsidies from 2000 to 2005. |
|
Whitney MacMillan |
$25,226 in wheat and barley subsidies from 1996 to 1999.Wild Eagle Mountain Ranch LLC, which received $10,417 in wheat and barley subsidies from 2001 to 2003. |
|
Neal Patterson |
$51,911 in wheat and sorghum subsidies from 1995 to 2001.Southpoint Farms LLC, which received $66,770 in disaster payments, wheat, sorghum and other farm subsidies from 2002 to 2012. |
|
Richard Peery |
Peery & Arrillaga, which received $59,711 in wheat, sorghum, corn, barley, safflower and other farm subsidies from 1995 to 2006. |
|
Anthony Pritzker |
Chicago Mill & Lumber Co., which received $1,604,288 in cotton, soybean, corn, sorghum, wheat, rice, oat and other farm subsidies from 1996 to 2006. |
|
Daniel Pritzker |
Chicago Mill & Lumber Co., which received $1,604,288 in cotton, soybean, corn, sorghum, wheat, rice, oat and other farm subsidies from 1996 to 2006. |
|
Jay Robert Pritzker |
Chicago Mill & Lumber Co., which received $1,604,288 in cotton, soybean, corn, sorghum, wheat, rice, oat and other farm subsidies from 1996 to 2006. |
|
Jean (Gigi) Pritzker |
Chicago Mill & Lumber Co., which received $1,604,288 in cotton, soybean, corn, sorghum, wheat, rice, oat and other farm subsidies from 1996 to 2006. |
|
Jennifer Pritzker |
Chicago Mill & Lumber Co., which received $1,604,288 in cotton, soybean, corn, sorghum, wheat, rice, oat and other farm subsidies from 1996 to 2006. |
|
John Pritzker |
Chicago Mill & Lumber Co., which received $1,604,288 in cotton, soybean, corn, sorghum, wheat, rice, oat and other farm subsidies from 1996 to 2006. |
|
Karen Pritzker |
Chicago Mill & Lumber Co., which received $1,604,288 in cotton, soybean, corn, sorghum, wheat, rice, oat and other farm subsidies from 1996 to 2006. |
|
Linda Pritzker |
Chicago Mill & Lumber Co., which received $1,604,288 in cotton, soybean, corn, sorghum, wheat, rice, oat and other farm subsidies from 1996 to 2006. |
|
Nicholas Pritzker, II. |
Chicago Mill & Lumber Co., which received $1,604,288 in cotton, soybean, corn, sorghum, wheat, rice, oat and other farm subsidies from 1996 to 2006. |
|
Penny Pritzker |
Chicago Mill & Lumber Co., which received $1,604,288 in cotton, soybean, corn, sorghum, wheat, rice, oat and other farm subsidies from 1996 to 2006. |
|
Thomas Pritzker |
Chicago Mill & Lumber Co., which received $1,604,288 in cotton, soybean, corn, sorghum, wheat, rice, oat and other farm subsidies from 1996 to 2006. |
|
Stewart & Lynda Resnick |
Paramount Land Co. LP, which received $576,603 in wheat, cotton, corn, sorghum and other farm subsidies from 1995 to 2002. |
|
David Rockefeller, Sr. |
$563,715 in corn, soybean, wheat, oat, sorghum and other farm subsidies from 1996 to 2006. |
|
Robert Rowling |
Rowling Ranch Corp., which received $157,427 in corn, sorghum and livestock subsidies from 2000 to 2008. |
|
Fayez Sarofim |
Holly Sugar Corp., which received $51,246 in wheat, corn, barley, sugar beet, oat and other farm subsidies from 1995 to 2003.FS Ranch Corporation, which received $67,125 in livestock subsidies in 2002. |
|
Charles Schwab |
$525,593 in rice and other farm subsidies from 1995 to 2003. |
|
Walter Scott, Jr. |
$62,031 in livestock subsidies in 2002.Double Eight Land Corp., which received $41,101 in livestock subsidies in 2002. |
|
Harold Simmons |
Dixie Rice Agriculture Corp., which received $677,300 in rice, sorghum and other farm subsidies from 1995 to 2003.Southwest Louisiana Land Co Inc., which received $272,511 in disaster payments, rice, soybean and other farm subsidies from 1995 to 2003.Contran Realty Corp., which received $17,754 in rice and other farm subsidies from 1996 to 2003.Contran Corp., which received $2,960 in wheat subsidies from 1998 to 2000. |
|
Warren Stephens |
Stephens Group Incorporated, which received $146,260 in peanut, wheat, corn, oat, sorghum and other farm subsidies from 1996 to 2003.Greenbriar Lodge LLC, which received $86,642 in rice, soybean and wheat subsidies from 2002 to 2008. |
|
Glen Taylor |
Glen A. Taylor Revocable Trust, which received $832,970 in corn, soybean, wheat, oat and other farm subsidies from 1995 to 2007. |
|
Alice Walton |
Robson Ranch Inc., which received $261,292 in crop disaster payments, wheat, soybean, corn and other farm subsidies from 1995 to 2008. |
|
Jim Walton |
Robson Ranch Inc., which received $261,292 in crop disaster payments, wheat, soybean, corn and other farm subsidies from 1995 to 2008. |
|
S. Robson Walton |
Robson Ranch Inc., which received $261,292 in crop disaster payments, wheat, soybean, corn and other farm subsidies from 1995 to 2008. |
|
Leslie Wexner |
LAW Plantation Co. LLC, which received $209,717 in wheat, corn, sorghum and oat subsidies from 1997 to 2003.The New Albany Co., which received $13 in farm subsidies in 1996. |
Copyright © Environmental Working Group, http://www.ewg.org. Reprinted with permission.