Can’t feed the poor but since 1995 the government has paid one family almost $10 million in farm subsidies.
Kaliff Farms
ownership information from 2015
York County, Nebraska
Valerie S Kaliff. N/A*
Renee L Kaliff. N/A*
Mark J Kaliff. N/A*
John C Kaliff. N/A*
Kim L Kaliff. N/A*
Danielle L Kaliff. N/A*
* According to USDA percentage shares for ownership may not reflect share of subsidy payments. EWG review shows that share information on file with USDA may not always equal 100 percent. Most recent percentage share information is from 2008. Future release of this information was barred by law in the 2008 Farm Bill.https://farm.ewg.org/persondetail.php?custnumber=A06381475&summlevel=whois
USDA subsidy information for Kaliff Farms
Addresses on file with USDA for Kaliff Farms
USDA county office from which subsidies were paid:
Subsidy Payments
1995-2016
The Most recent address on file in USDA county office Kaliff Farms
York, NE 68467
York County, Nebraska
Total $9,905,473https://farm.ewg.org/persondetail.php?custnumber=A06381475&summlevel=add...
Nebraska Farm Subsidy Information
Commodity Programs: ($12.6 billion)
Conservation Programs: ($1.81 billion)
Disaster Programs: ($1.41 billion)
Crop Insurance Subsidies: ($4.47billion)
Farmers received $20.3 billion insubsidies 1995-2016
Total Subsidies, Nebraska, 1995-2016
J R Kaliff & Sons
1310 Road 7
York, NE 68467
Phone:
(402) 724-2162J R Kaliff & Sons is a privately held company in York, NE and is a Single Location business
Categorized under Farms. Our records show it was established in 1981 and incorporated in Nebraska. Current estimates show this company has an annual revenue of 152822 and employs a staff of approximately 2.
Biography
Both Valerie and Mark Kaliff grew up on farms in central Nebraska. After they married, the couple became commercial farmers with Mark's dad, Charles, and his two older brothers, John and Kim, and their families. Kaliff Farms is now one of the largest operations in Nebraska farming over 10,000 acres. They own and operate over 100 center pivot irrigation systems on that land.
https://livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe70s/movies/kaliff_machines_01....
Six Reasons to Repeal Farm Subsidies
1. Subsidies Redistribute Wealth Upwards. Farm subsidies transfer the earnings of taxpayers to well-off farm businesses and landowners. USDA data show that farm incomes have soared far above average U.S. incomes. In 2014 the average income of farm households was $134,164, which was 77 percent higher than the $75,738 average of all U.S. households.11 The same year, the median income of farm households was $81,637, which was 52 percent higher than the U.S. median of $53,657.12
While politicians claim to support small farmers, most farm subsidies go to the largest farms. Economist Vincent Smith found that the largest 15 percent of farm businesses receive more than 85 percent of all farm subsidies.13 Over the years, many billionaires have received farm subsidies because they were the owners of farmland. Prior to the 2014 farm bill, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) found that 50 people on the Forbes 400 list of the wealthiest Americans received farm subsidies.14 The new farm bill channels the largest share of subsidies through insurance companies, making it hard to determine the identities of recipients.15 But the GAO found last year that at least four recipients of crop insurance subsidies have a net worth or more than $1.5 billion.16
2. Subsidies Damage the Economy. The extent of government coddling and micromanagement of the agriculture industry is unique. In most industries, market prices balance supply and demand, profits steer investment, businesses take risks, and entrepreneurs innovate to improve quality and reduce costs. Those market mechanisms are blunted and undermined in U.S. agriculture causing a range of economic harms, including overproduction, distorted land use, distorted choice of crops, inflated land prices, and inadequate cost control.
3. Subsidies Are Prone to Scandal. Like all government subsidy programs, farm programs are subject to both bureaucratic waste and recipient fraud. One problem is that some farm subsidies are paid improperly as farmers create business structures to get around legal subsidy limits. Another problem is that Congress and the USDA distribute disaster payments in a careless manner, with payments going to farmers who do not need them. EWG found another boondoggle called the "prevented planting" program, which covers farmers for losses if conditions during a season prevent them from planting some areas. The group found that billions of dollars have been paid to farmers who would not normally have planted the areas included in their USDA claims.17
Perhaps the biggest scandal with regard to farm subsidies is that congressional agriculture committees include members who are active farmers and farmland owners. Those members have a direct financial stake whenever Congress votes to increase subsidies, which is an obvious conflict of interests.
The database tracks $349 billion in farm subsidies from commodity, crop insurance, disaster programs and conservation payments paid between 1995 and 2016
Members of Congress Collect At Least $9.5 Million in Farm Subsidies
By Rob Coleman, Government Affairs Analyst
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 2016*
Key findings:
The farm owned in part by Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Calif.) received at least $5.3 million between 1995 and 2014. The farm owned by Rep. Stephen Fincher (R-Tenn.) received at least $3.6 million in farm subsidies between 1995 and 2014. Both LaMalfa and Fincher have invoked the Bible to attack anti-hunger programs.
Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-Ind.) received at least $220,000 in farm subsidies between 1995 and 2012. Stutzman has frequently railed against government spending, warning “there are too many hands in the cookie jar.”
Several Tea Party leaders – including the current and former leaders of the fiscally conservative Republican Study Committee – received farm subsidies.
Some current or former chairs of committees overseeing the U.S. Department of Agriculture have received subsidies, including Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.), Rep. Frank Lucas (R-Okla.). The most senior Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee, Collin Peterson of Minnesota, has also received subsidies.
Overall, ten members of the House Agriculture Committee received at least $3.5 million in farm subsidies from 1995 to 2014.https://www.ewg.org/agmag/2016/06/members-congress-collect-least-95-mill...
It’s not the little family farmer collecting all this ‘welfare’, it’s the big farms. And we aren’t even allowed to know the REAL amount that they collect. And all my life i’ve heard these people rant and rave against welfare and helping the poor when the truth is everybody is ‘helping’ them.
Want to cut the deficit? Here’s a damn good place to start.
Comments
Trouble ahead, trouble behind....
A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.
Well they can start with cutting the subsidies
going to our congress critters and senatorial pigs.
Then go talk to the leeches like the Kaliff family. Or the commercial hog farms that are destroying water sources and are a source of ground and air pollution. You can smell the stench for miles.
I'm tired of this back-slapping "Isn't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are. - Bill Hicks
Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa
You do know that the Kochsters, et al
have told them to not worry about the deficit just now with the current tax scam bills? This what they do.
Bernie and others warn neolibs will go back to being deficit scolds after they pass this for their big donors so then can cut healthcare and other parts a of safety net.
A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.
Killing The Family Farm
And this:
Like John Cougar Mellancamp said in 1985, 97 families lost 97 farms:
"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn
Poor Old Dirt Farmer...
Another Example of Socialism for the Wealthy
and capitalism for the rest. Unfortunately, I doubt the democrats would ever touch farm subsidies, even with a super ultra majority.
The real SparkyGump has passed. It was an honor being your human.
There was a cut to LIHEAP this year
I received my letter for how much I get this year and it's $20 less than last year. This is the program that helps the poor and elderly pay their gas and electricity bills during winter. Trump has said he wants to totally eliminate it.
I've known about the amount of money that goes for farm subsidies. They are tied to the food stamps program. Each time the farmers get an increase in subsidies, money is taken from food stamps.
Which one costs the government more money?
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
@snoopydawg And food prices are still
And food prices are still skyrocketing.
I've seen the 30 pack of Tortillas I get go from $4.99 to $6.99 in one year, that's a 40% increase I believe. And that's just one example. It's like that across the board.
Beer has exploded pricewise too, here in WA state anyways. A few years ago Costco convinced the electorate that privatizing liquor sales would decrease prices. Of course the opposite happened. (The state was essentially selling at minimal profit+taxes, after privatization they still tax in addition to the sellers markup/profit) When they were called on their lies, they said it was all in the fine print....
I guess inflation is down because food isn't indexed anymore?
I typed in Resnick and out popped Woolf
Thanks for this informative essay. I used the EWG db search on Resnick, Jerry's friends here in California. Then a rabbit hole appeared, so I followed it and ended up at Woolf and the db again. Shocked! lol This article is from 2010, the system has only become more oppressive. Don't say earthquake:
Water Wars: Billionaire Thugs Scheme To Pull Off Katrina-style Wealth Transfer That Could Destroy California
What's a "routine 6.7 magnitude earthquake"? LOL, as if they happen every day. The Big One.
double fudge, okay back on topic:
No wonder there is major depressive disorder, that is just awful. The people in charge are awful inhumane ugly capitalists. And the right wing says we're commies in California, what the heck? "That's the system."
I'd be happy to live and work in a collective of some kind, any kind. People just don't think like that around here. It is Corporate Clinton Ds wall to wall, because Trump.
Kudos Amanda Matthews for an excellent post! n/t
Betty Clermont
Thank you. This has bothered me for a
long time. Farming has changed. It’s not all Old MacDonald Had a Farm anymore.
It’s become just another predatory corporate industry. Just like the big banks have cannibalized the little ones, corporate farming is eating up all the small farms and taking over the food supply. And they are getting huge payouts from the public purse to get even larger.
It’s obviously not good for our country, or for the planet to be more exact, to have the food supply (AND water supply) be in the hands of a few corporate entities. And the government has no business subsidising them. Farming has become just another predatory corporate industry feeding off the public teat. But we have no money to feed the poor according to the leeches in D.C.
And we can’t abandon this baby on the Conservative Right’s doorstep. The Dims are just as guilty.
I'm tired of this back-slapping "Isn't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are. - Bill Hicks
Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa