Agriculture Payments

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) pays producers under several farm programs, including the disaster assistance, conservation reserve, and income support programs. This fact sheet provides information for crop year 1990 on the (1) number of individuals who--by participating in USDA's farm programs for wheat, feed grains, cotton, and rice--received income support payments in their own name and through entities, general partnerships, and joint ventures and (2) the amount of these payments.

GAO found that: (1) USDA made payments to producers from several farm programs; (2) the amount of deficiency payments that producers received varies with their level of production, market price, and the target price; (3) for crop year 1990, about 1 million individuals receive payments; (4) of the individuals that received payment, 829,572 received about $4.8 billion in their own name, 171,559 who owned an interest in one or more entities received about $935 million, 87,909 who owned an interest in general partnerships and joint ventures received about $628 million, and 15,405 who owned an interest in one or more entities and general partnerships received about $316 million; and (5) deficiency payments varies widely among individuals, ranging from $1 to $10,000, and averaged about $2,500.