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Michael Olson’s Food Chain Radio Show #1365
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GUEST: Jennifer Leidolf, Direct Marketing Program Supervisor California Department of Food and Agriculture
Our federal government hands out a lot of money to farmers. How much? As recently as 2021, it was about $14.5 billion.
Michael Olson Food Chain Radio – Can Big Government Support Small Farms?
Which farms get the government money? Data from USDA’s Economic Research tells us…
About 75% of large farms with gross incomes of over $350,000 get an average of $66,000 per year; about 31% of intermediate size farms with gross incomes of less than $350,000 get an average $12,800; and 29% of small farms received an average of $8,300.
From this thumbnail sketch is easy to see that the more money a farm makes, the more help it gets from the government. And conversely, the less money a farm makes, the less help it gets from the government. This observation led us to seek out a government program that helps small farms more than big farms.
We found such a program in California, and it is the California Department of Food and Agriculture’s Certified Farmers’ Market Program. And so we ask Jennifer Leidolf, CDFA’s Direct Marketing Program Supervisor:
Leave a comment below: How can a government program help small farms in a big way?
Take the 2X2 Pledge
“Together, we can eat our way to economic security and personal freedom, and it won’t cost a dime and it will be so easy it will make you blush!”
Michael Olson’s Three Laws of the Food Chain
#1 Agriculture is the foundation upon which we build all our sand castles.
#2 The farther we go from the source of our food, the less control we have over what’s in that food.
#3 Cheap food isn’t! READ MORE
