Equity of Farm Subsidies

Governments get involved in agriculture to
ensure adequate food supplies, protect and preserve
small-scale farms, reduce price instability,
minimize dependence on imports and protect the
environment. In this book, the dependency of South
Dakota on different forms of federal payments is
examined. In addition, the distribution of farm
program payments to recipients is analyzed.
South Dakota s dependency on federal
payments has increased during the 1990-2001 time
period. Moreover, the level of dependency on farm
program payments for farm income increased
enormously from the 1990-95 period to the 1996-01
time period. Dependency on federal payments was
similar across regions; however, farm income
dependency on farm program payments varies
throughout South Dakota.
The distribution of farm program payments
was highly unequal in South Dakota, regardless of
region and specific year examined. The sum of the
first quintile s payment was much larger than the
sum of the second, third, fourth, and fifth quintile
combined.

Autorentext
Yonas G. Hamda is a Research Associate in the Department of Economics at South Dakota State University. He works on issues such as grain trades, ethanol and carbon credit. Yonas worked on an ecotourism project in Ethiopia and was a community development volunteer in the Peace Corps at the Ghana-Burkina Faso border.

Klappentext
Governments get involved in agriculture to ensure adequate food supplies, protect and preserve small-scale farms, reduce price instability, minimize dependence on imports and protect the environment. In this book, the dependency of South Dakota on different forms of federal payments is examined. In addition, the distribution of farm program payments to recipients is analyzed. South Dakota's dependency on federal payments has increased during the 1990-2001 time period. Moreover, the level of dependency on farm program payments for farm income increased enormously from the 1990-95 period to the 1996-01 time period. Dependency on federal payments was similar across regions; however, farm income dependency on farm program payments varies throughout South Dakota. The distribution of farm program payments was highly unequal in South Dakota, regardless of region and specific year examined. The sum of the first quintile's payment was much larger than the sum of the second, third, fourth, and fifth quintile combined.