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In 2021, 139 farmers in cities within Smith County received a total of $540,574 in 190 farm subsidies, a 63.1% decrease compared to 2020, when the total was $1.5 million in 377 farm subsidies.
Though farm subsidies support agriculture in the U.S., pumping $7 trillion into the economy, they are not without controversy.
The American Action Forum discovered that the most highly subsidized crops - corn, soy, wheat, and rice - are often consumed in highly processed ways, which leads to unhealthy eating habits and obesity, while the fruits and vegetables needed for a healthy diet are rarely subsidized.
"We are consuming more calories, fats, sodium, and sugars, and not enough beneficial nutrients and vitamins," Tara O'Neill Hayes wrote. "It is critical that both policymakers and the American public understand the influence that federal agricultural subsidies have on our food supply and diet and, in turn, our nutrition and health."
Farm subsidies have also been criticized for assisting the highest-earning agricultural businesses, not local farmers on their family farms who are barely getting by.
Kimberly Amadeo of The Balance said farmer subsidies "help high-income corporations, not poor rural farmers. Most of the money goes toward large agribusinesses."
The U.S. has provided farm subsidies since the Great Depression to assist farmers who weather price fluctuations and disasters, to help maintain consistent farming across the country.
| Farmer | Total Received in 2020 | Total Received in 2021 | % Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kyle Owen | $276,028 | $95,513 | -65.4% |
| Finleigh Farms, LLC | $158,316 | $74,559 | -52.9% |
| Joe Darren Boze | $182,346 | $64,795 | -64.5% |
| Joe E. Taylor | $0 | $58,439 | -- |
| Mark McCall | $72,098 | $39,801 | -44.8% |
| Charles McKinney | $29,544 | $18,485 | -37.4% |
| Glenn R. Vaden | $7,132 | $13,164 | 84.6% |
| Scudder Farms | $41,536 | $10,777 | -74.1% |
| Mike Mofield | $27,616 | $9,188 | -66.7% |
| Jimmy Joe Boze | $42,152 | $8,387 | -80.1% |
| Steve Anderson | $98,958 | $7,702 | -92.2% |
| Randy Petty | $3,575 | $7,427 | 107.7% |
| Jimmy Owen | $10,703 | $6,156 | -42.5% |
| Barbara T. Maxwell | $24,206 | $5,763 | -76.2% |
| Daniel Henry | $7,142 | $5,287 | -26% |
| Barry H. Smith | $23,886 | $4,380 | -81.7% |
| Kristi Carter | $0 | $3,496 | -- |
| Dale McKinney | $2,189 | $3,288 | 50.2% |
| Jeff Owen | $8,706 | $3,251 | -62.7% |
| Eric D West | $10,717 | $3,011 | -71.9% |
| Tim L. Agee | $14,967 | $2,980 | -80.1% |
| Gary Zeitz | $0 | $2,807 | -- |
| Chase Mitchell Taylor | $7,129 | $2,610 | -63.4% |
| Rupert Alvis III | $11,605 | $2,447 | -78.9% |
| Debbie Arnold | $11,894 | $2,434 | -79.5% |
| Keith Wright | $9,877 | $2,394 | -75.8% |
| Estate of Joyce Kemp | $0 | $2,328 | -- |
| Farm Service Agency/Commodity Credit Corporation | $0 | $2,299 | -- |
| Brian Hensley | $2,953 | $2,280 | -22.8% |
| Daniel Wade Baker | $9,637 | $2,210 | -77.1% |
| Ben Lynch | $8,382 | $2,178 | -74% |
| Grover Ellenburg | $3,280 | $2,158 | -34.2% |
| Charlene H. Mofield | $8,745 | $2,109 | -75.9% |
| Cody Braswell | $9,053 | $2,068 | -77.2% |
| Steve Hix | $12,328 | $1,973 | -84% |
| Floyd Massey | $8,680 | $1,897 | -78.1% |
| Jim Broyles | $13,558 | $1,871 | -86.2% |
| David R. Agee | $4,983 | $1,792 | -64% |
| Chris Smith | $4,225 | $1,784 | -57.8% |
| Richard West | $6,097 | $1,606 | -73.7% |
| Tammy Tidwell | $6,380 | $1,496 | -76.6% |
| Rickey Hunter | $13,245 | $1,492 | -88.7% |
| B. L. Owen | $8,359 | $1,483 | -82.3% |
| Doug Dillard | $6,138 | $1,388 | -77.4% |
| Ronnie Bussell | $6,928 | $1,312 | -81.1% |
| Philip Hackett | $5,236 | $1,251 | -76.1% |
| Earl E. Paschal | $5,806 | $1,223 | -78.9% |
| David Mcdonald Family Limited Partnership | $0 | $1,190 | -- |
| James R. Kemp | $6,154 | $1,181 | -80.8% |
| Robert H. Taylor Jr. | $5,185 | $1,155 | -77.7% |
| James F. Kemp | $3,648 | $1,002 | -72.5% |
| Robert Davis Jr. | $4,521 | $972 | -78.5% |
| Michael Eric Kenny | $5,078 | $960 | -81.1% |
| Steve Driver | $3,267 | $938 | -71.3% |
| Brenda O. Nester | $3,197 | $862 | -73% |
| John Maxwell | $3,916 | $848 | -78.3% |
| Wayne Jenkins | $4,988 | $799 | -84% |
| Dustin Bradley Keaton | $4,543 | $798 | -82.4% |
| Edward Massey | $2,182 | $787 | -63.9% |
| Larry C. Key | $3,047 | $749 | -75.4% |
| David Martin Bryant | $3,245 | $732 | -77.4% |
| James T. Gibbs | $4,216 | $730 | -82.7% |
| Jacob Neal McCaleb | $3,630 | $723 | -80.1% |
| Mike Sircy | $4,306 | $712 | -83.5% |
| Stan East | $2,247 | $711 | -68.4% |
| AAA Farms | $3,292 | $696 | -78.9% |
| Harold Massey | $2,365 | $680 | -71.2% |
| Cordell H. Smith Jr. | $2,552 | $656 | -74.3% |
| Kirk Shores II | $1,815 | $648 | -64.3% |
| Jerry Hicks | $3,539 | $644 | -81.8% |
| Joann Gregory | $3,196 | $644 | -79.8% |
| Ricky Dixon | $4,023 | $637 | -84.2% |
| David Hailey Family Limited | $1,793 | $634 | -64.6% |
| Randy Watts | $2,442 | $620 | -74.6% |
| Robert Crawford | $2,497 | $612 | -75.5% |
| David W. Oxley | $2,651 | $606 | -77.1% |
| Danny W. Owens | $2,849 | $592 | -79.2% |
| Daniel Boze | $420 | $560 | 33.3% |
| Mary M. Shores | $2,057 | $558 | -72.9% |
| John D. Winkler | $5,097 | $545 | -89.3% |
| Bruce Shoulders | $2,767 | $523 | -81.1% |
| Karree Phillips Brannen | $3,108 | $518 | -83.3% |
| Jeff Hudson | $2,420 | $516 | -78.7% |
| Timothy J. Gibbs | $1,639 | $512 | -68.8% |
| Kevin Massey | $2,851 | $501 | -82.4% |
| Peggy A. Apple | $2,576 | $498 | -80.7% |
| Vivian L. Reynolds | $2,222 | $488 | -78% |
| Philip Huffines | $2,200 | $483 | -78% |
| Mitchell Brooks | $2,718 | $474 | -82.6% |
| James H. Agee | $1,221 | $474 | -61.2% |
| Stacey White | $4,085 | $467 | -88.6% |
| Tommy Donoho | $2,178 | $467 | -78.6% |
| Sherrill Woods | $2,874 | $464 | -83.9% |
| Randall Glover | $1,023 | $463 | -54.7% |
| Ray A. Martin | $2,259 | $452 | -80% |
| Kerry D. Reasonover | $1,870 | $421 | -77.5% |
| Bruce J. Winfree | $2,118 | $416 | -80.4% |
| Mary Etta Grimsley | $1,595 | $390 | -75.5% |
| Kenneth Apple | $2,529 | $380 | -85% |
| Gary Schulz | $1,683 | $371 | -78% |
| Gayle Cripps | $1,210 | $349 | -71.2% |
| Campbell Baker | $1,243 | $344 | -72.3% |
| Sam M Beechboard | $1,844 | $338 | -81.7% |
| Willie D. Pryor Jr. | $1,133 | $332 | -70.7% |
| Kay Farris McCall | $325 | $325 | 0% |
| Phil Claywell | $2,275 | $325 | -85.7% |
| Brian Dale McKinney | $1,942 | $321 | -83.5% |
| Ricky Gibbs | $1,551 | $318 | -79.5% |
| Joe Frank Green Jr. | $1,738 | $315 | -81.9% |
| Keith A. Bryan | $2,094 | $311 | -85.1% |
| Adam Buckler | $1,520 | $308 | -79.7% |
| James L. Skelton | $2,050 | $294 | -85.7% |
| James E. Trainham II | $1,067 | $287 | -73.1% |
| Jason Montgomery | $1,408 | $280 | -80.1% |
| Linda Allison | $1,826 | $276 | -84.9% |
| Timothy Robert Stadelman | $2,285 | $272 | -88.1% |
| James K. Winfree | $1,449 | $263 | -81.8% |
| Jeffrey Lee Sircy | $1,452 | $254 | -82.5% |
| Jerry Anthony Wilmore | $880 | $253 | -71.3% |
| James M. Gibbs Jr. | $1,155 | $253 | -78.1% |
| Faye Bussell | $1,089 | $249 | -77.1% |
| Chris McClanahan | $3,720 | $242 | -93.5% |
| Dwight Williams | $1,034 | $239 | -76.9% |
| Martha Dale Sinclair | $534 | $237 | -55.6% |
| Ricky A. Givens | $528 | $235 | -55.5% |
| Terri Poston Hailey | $803 | $235 | -70.7% |
| David Key | $770 | $226 | -70.6% |
| Billy D. Halliburton | $495 | $197 | -60.2% |
| Barney Allison | $737 | $190 | -74.2% |
| William E. Jefferson | $1,358 | $190 | -86% |
| Krisit Carter | $0 | $186 | -- |
| James David Ramsey | $847 | $180 | -78.7% |
| Nicky Stallings | $0 | $167 | -- |
| Jeffrey W. Brown | $1,030 | $166 | -83.9% |
| Teresa Martin | $1,221 | $156 | -87.2% |
| Thomas Jacob Shelton | $762 | $132 | -82.7% |
| Newly Buck Taylor | $297 | $75 | -74.7% |
| A. J. Clark Jr. | $374 | $31 | -91.7% |
| Kriisti Carter | $0 | $25 | -- |
| David Mcdonald Family Limited Par | $2,961 | $0 | -100% |
| Debbie A. Whitener | $220 | $0 | -100% |
| Farm Service Agency/Commodity CRE | $1,333 | $0 | -100% |
| James Edward Trainham III | $220 | $0 | -100% |
| Kenneth W. Nixon | $539 | $0 | -100% |
| Logan Hudson | $3,707 | $0 | -100% |
| Samantha Bussell | $345 | $0 | -100% |
| Smith County FSA | $1,732 | $0 | -100% |
| Tony Vaden | $715 | $0 | -100% |
| Zach McCall | $911 | $0 | -100% |
| Bobby Tisdale | $655 | $0 | -100% |
| Gary Croslin | $440 | $0 | -100% |
| Harold Dillard | $873 | $0 | -100% |
| Jonathan Thomas Blankenship | $3,108 | $0 | -100% |
| Jordan Davis | $816 | $0 | -100% |
| Mike Scudder | $18,023 | $0 | -100% |
| Robert E. Slack | $770 | $0 | -100% |
| Total subsidies | $1,463,643 | $540,574 | -63.1% |
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