We’re in the middle of a massive drought across the Midwest, and farms are paying the price. Actually, scratch that, the government is paying most of the price. Apparently farmers have some amazing insurance plan where the sunnier it is, the more money they make. From NPR:
When a farmer buys crop insurance, the government picks up most of the premium, and it also pays operating expenses for the companies. Those two subsidies cost close to $8 billion a year. But taxpayers also insure crop insurance companies against catastrophic loss.
So, as claims from this year's drought mount, the USDA will shoulder a larger and larger share of the payout. Babcock says it'll likely be taxpayers, not insurance companies, paying the bulk of this year's crop insurance claims, which could easily run more than $10 billion.
America depends on these farmers for sustenance, and when you consider how many terrible processed foods we already eat, and how many people out there are food insecure, I think it’s well worth the taxpayers’ money to save what crops we can. By the way, turns out food insecure means something completely different than what I thought. Those pork chops totally made my hips look huge though.
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