Quotes about Farm Aid

George F. Will

President Lincoln’s biggest blunder was—no not General George McClellan—creating the Agriculture Department. Since 1995, 75 percent of all agricultural subsidies have gone to the largest and wealthiest 10 percent of farms.

Actually, the Agriculture Department was one of Lincoln’s greatest achievements. The subsidies and corporate welfare came much later. The biggest benefits were the land grant collages where agricultural research improved the yields and productivity and the Agricultural Extension provided training and technical assistance to American farmers making the United States the most efficient agricultural producer in the world. The subsidies and corporate welfare had and has nothing to do with the positive initiatives that Lincoln envisioned.

Kristi Noem

What our family has done is participate in the farm programs … programs I think essentially almost every farmer in South Dakota has participated in those, and they haven't been bailouts, they have been programs that the United States has put forward for farmers to participate in.

Stephen Fincher

The farm subsidy program is something that was put into place over 60 years ago, and it was put into place to do one thing, and it's turned into something else.

Karl Zinsmeister

The [Agricultural] Department’s budget was $51 billion last year – more than the total net income of American farmers.

Jeff Goodell

Corn is already the most subsidized crop in America, raking in a total of $51 billion in federal handouts between 1995 and 2005 - twice as much as wheat subsidies and four times as much as soybeans. Ethanol itself is propped up by hefty subsidies, including a fifty-one-cent-per-gallon tax allowance for refiners.

John F. Kennedy

Don’t confuse me with all that. Just tell me how to vote to help your farmers.

Willie Nelson

As long as there's a few farmers out there, we'll keep fighting for them.

Dwayne Andreas

What in the hell would they do with the farm program without us?

Elise Stefanik

I am committed to helping our farmers in any way that I can.

Michael McCaul

On this National Agriculture Day, when we all should be taking time to thank and pay tribute to America's farmers, ranchers and their families who produce the food for our tables, we are finding those same people in dire need of our help and support.

Rebecca Pidgeon

Farm Aid was started in 1985 by Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp and Dave Matthews as a concert to support small local farms in the U.S.

Mel Carnahan

We are aware that many national farm organizations are putting forth various plans to provide both short- and long-term relief to our nation's agricultural producers. While we believe long-term solutions are essential, the current situation demands a more immediate response.

Masum Burak

Farm subsidies are a matter of national food security

For many nations, it is an important objective to be totally self-sufficient in their food supply—so that they would not have to depend in other nations in what might be a world famine or food supply. For those nations agricultural subsidies are useful if their farmers cannot produce as cheaply and efficiently as other nations do. In the United States, with the most efficient agriculture in the world, subsidies are a waste of public money {633243} and the result of lobbying and special interest pressure and or corruption {633245}.

Vicky Hartzler

We do participate in the government programs, like probably 95 percent of farmers do. People who aren't familiar with the agriculture industry, you know, try and make that look like something exceptional.

Farm Aid Quotes