Government Payments and Farm Size

Some perspective on the relationship between farm size and government payments is useful.


This graph, based on data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS), shows that since 1993, government payments have averaged around 9% of net farm income for farms over $1 million in gross sales. By contrast, government payments as a percentage of net farm income in all other size categories ranged from 28% - 37%. Given the consistency in this relationship for all farms below $1 million, one has to wonder why the $500K and above level was targeted??