By Lori Ehde
A popular Web site among local Internet surfers this week is ewg.org.
The site, compiled by the Environmental Working Group, presents USDA figures on farm subsidies - who gets how much, organized by state, county, and producer.
Mike Pap, who farms 2,300 acres in Rock County, tops the local list at $500,000 in the past five years.
He said most of the subsidies are distributed in the form of loan deficiency payments, a federal system that ensures farmers are paid a fair price for grain, despite what the market does.
For example, when the posted county price for corn is $1.42 per bushel, and the contracted LDP price is $1.72, the load deficiency payment on that bushel is 30 cents.
The more grain a producer harvests, and the more depressed the farm economy, the more the LDP check will be. "Depressed farm prices make LDP payments higher," Pap said.
Producers in Pipestone County received nearly $46 million in farm subsidies since 1996.
Top five Pipestone County recipients include Brinkmeyer Farms, Holland, $554,174.51; Donald Backer, Pipestone, $381,677.65; Stuart Sybesma, Lindstrom, $362,321.54; Uilk Farms Inc., Pipestone, $320,262.50; and Peter Bisson, Garretson, S.D., $310,451.29.
Nobles County producers received more than $89 million in subsidies.
Top recipients in Nobles County include Son-d-partnership, Rushmore, $757,461.07; Keith Tordsen, Round Lake, $519,529.51; Loru Farms, Worthington, $492,213.11; Wieneke Farms, Adrian, $485,000.54; Riley Farms, Worthington, $480,207.87.
Rock County producers received more than $62 million over the past five years.
Pap said his posted subsidies are accurate. He said other local farm operations actually received more subsidies than he did, but they're reported differently.
For example, the husband-wife farming team of Mark and Leah Gath received a combined total of more than $800,000 in subsidies, but they're listed separately in two smaller amounts.
Warren Pommier of the Minnesota Farm Service Agency, St. Paul, said the ewg.org site is technically correct, but the numbers don't tell the whole story.
"You have to keep in mind these figures are for a period of five years," said Pommier, state specialist for the Freedom to Farm Bill.
Also, he said some line entries represent partnerships that may support several families.
He clearly pointed out that while Harvest States tops the Minnesota list of subsidies, the co-op collects loan deficiency payments for producers and disperses checks to members.
"That's why they're at the top with $20 million," Pommier said. "They do the LDPs for their patrons rather than the LDP being attached to their names."
Other disclaimers made by EWG are that the subsidies listed don't include conservation or disaster payments. Also, the amounts listed are for farms only in Rock County (some recipients receive subsidies in more than one county), and the locations listed on the site represent addresses where checks are mailed.
While it looks as though some are getting rich on farm subsidies, Pommier said that's not the case for everyone.
"If [subsidies] hadn't been there, the vast majority of producers would have had no income," he said.
He pointed to information from the Minnesota Agriculture Statistics Service Annual Report that states 97 percent of net farm income in 1999 was comprised of government payments.
"The profit was government payments," Pommier said.
A link on the site answers the question, "Why has EWG assembled this Farm Subsidy Database?"
EWG asserts that farm assistance is vital to farmers' incomes, but it advocates overhauling federal subsidy programs.
"We also think current policy has badly failed almost everyone in agriculture but the very largest producers of a few favored crops," the site reads.
"Before Congress enacts another Farm Bill that will set agriculture policy for the next five to 10 years, at a cost of $170 billion, the entire country should have better information about how taxpayers have already invested $90 billion since 'Freedom to Farm' became law."
The Environmental Working Group is a not-for-profit environmental research organization dedicated to improving public health and protecting the environment by reducing pollution in air, water and food.
EWG is funded almost exclusively by grants from foundations. Major supporters past and present include the W. Alton Jones Foundation, the Joyce Foundation, the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Beldon Fund, the Turner Foundation, and the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund.