Mountain West Farmers Have Received More Than $3 Billion for Crop Losses Since 2001

Sep 13, 2023

By Kaleb Roedel

From 2001 to 2022, less than a quarter of the nation’s farms received payments for crop losses, according to the Environmental Working Group, a nonpartisan advocacy organization.

The group found that a majority of that money went to large farms growing commodity crops – like corn, soybeans and wheat – in a handful of states. In fact, almost two-thirds of all payments went to producers in just 10 states.

Texas farmers received the largest share – 14% – for a total of more than $23 billion. Farmers in Midwestern states and California made up the rest of the top 10 list.

In the Mountain West, meanwhile, farmers received more than $3 billion during that two-decade span.

Anne Schechinger, an agricultural economist and author of the report, said many payments were for drought, flooding and heat, among other weather-related events.

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Video: Learning to Wrench From Dad the Hard Way

Harvest is a week out and the farm picked this week to fall apart. The truck needs a battery, the barn curtain's got a problem, and the corn and beans are telling us we're out of time to get it all fixed.

So it's a full day of wrenching. Tork supervises while I get the truck back running, then we're out at the hog barn where one rusted up part has the whole curtain system hung up. Ladder work, cable work, and a little dad-and-son disagreement about the right way to do it. We close it out walking the fields, shelling beans and checking corn, because whether everything's fixed or not, harvest starts when harvest starts.

Chapters: 00:00 Everything breaks the week before harvest 01:00 Tork supervises while I fix the truck 12:30 Out to the barn to find the curtain problem 14:30 One rusty part hung up the whole curtain 20:00 Running the curtain cable from the ladder 24:00 Walking the beans and corn before harvest 26:30 Wrapping up

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