City Slickers: Location of Farm Subsidy Recipient in Major U.S. Cities

Select a City Atlanta Birmingham Chicago Dallas Washington, DC Des Moines, IA Houston, TX Jackson, MS Kansas City Los Angeles Montgomery New York City Oklahoma City Omaha Richmond, VA San Antonio San Francisco St. Louis    

Why is your tax money going for farm subsidy payments to people in New York City? Los Angeles? Chicago? For the most part these people are collecting checks from taxpayers for rural farms in which they have an ownership interest in farms that happen to qualify for agricultural subsidy programs that proponents say are needed to keep farm families on the land.

New maps from EWG show where millions of farm subsidy dollars were sent between 1996 and 2001 to recipients with addresses around places like Central Park in New York City, and along the shores of San Francisco Bay or Lake Michigan in Chicago. Under the new farm bill, signed into law May of 2002, billions more will flow to recipients in these non-farming areas. Is this the best we can do to support working farm families?

From 1996 through 2001, USDA provided $3.5 billion in farm subsidies to tens of thousands of recipients who reside in major U.S. cities. In addition, out of the approximately $1.3 billion provided by Congress under the peanut quota compensation program, $58.7 million will go to those with addresses in the cities below.

Click on a city below to see where 'city slicker' subsidy recipients are located.