NSAC Releases Report on Farm Safety Net

The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) released a report titled Unsustainable: State of the Farm Safety Net, which features a comprehensive analysis of the accessibility and concentration of public dollars distributed through crop insurance premium subsidies, commodity programs, and ad-hoc disaster assistance. The report says that more than $142 billion was distributed through farm safety net programs from 2017-2022: $46 billion to crop insurance premium subsidies, $29 billion to commodity programs, and $67 billion to ad-hoc disaster assistance. The concentration of benefits across programs primarily in the Midwest and Great Plains appears to correlate more closely to the number of acres planted to covered commodities than to the number of farms in a state or its value of production. The report recommends that lawmakers adopt common-sense policy reforms to build a sustainable farm safety net that is fair, functional, and informed.