THE WASHINGTON POST reporters focused for more than a year on tracking the path of farm subsidies — subsidies which between 2001 and 2006 amounted to more than $95 billion. THE WASHINGTON POST reported: "In 2005 alone, when pretax farm profits were at a near-record $72 billion, the federal government handed out more than $25 billion in aid, almost 50 percent more than the amount it pays to families receiving welfare."

Of course many of these subsidies are not, "wasteful, unnecessary, or redundant expenditures." EXPOSÉ on THE JOURNAL focuses on two aspects of THE WASHINGTON POST investigation:

• "1.3 Billion to People Who Don't Farm"
  The largest annual subsidy, called direct and countercyclical payments, is given to farmers regardless of what crops they grow — or whether they grow anything at all. The POST found that, since 2001, at least $1.3 billion was paid to landowners who had planted nothing since 2000. Among the beneficiaries were homeowners in new developments whose backyards used to be rice fields.

• "No Drought Required For Federal Drought Aid"
  A 2002 program aimed at helping those facing a serious drought gave $635 million to ranchers and dairy farmers who had moderate or no drought. Some ranchers got money because they lived in counties declared disaster areas after debris fell to earth from the space shuttle Columbia.

• Read the complete WASHINGTON POST series
• Meet the Reporters with Gil Gaul and Sarah Cohen
• Read a Producer's Note from Joe Rubin

Published on April 11, 2008.