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In 2021, 130 farmers in cities within Rhea County received a total of $972,854 in 171 farm subsidies, a 31.1% decrease compared to 2020, when the total was $1.4 million in 426 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Michael R. Neal | $76,032 | $185,990 | 144.6% |
| Eric Lee Hughes | $30,259 | $150,049 | 395.9% |
| Donald O. Hughes | $93,213 | $148,353 | 59.2% |
| Jonathan Newt Hughes | $100,306 | $108,669 | 8.3% |
| Melvin T. Jewell | $0 | $56,590 | -- |
| Daniel Logging, LLC | $0 | $52,875 | -- |
| Daniel Trucking | $0 | $52,875 | -- |
| Robert Lebron Brown | $25,644 | $33,920 | 32.3% |
| Wayne Luther Griffith | $166,640 | $29,037 | -82.6% |
| Jesse Carter | $48,235 | $6,299 | -86.9% |
| Edsel Freels | $19,529 | $6,059 | -69% |
| David P. Tallent | $40,092 | $5,160 | -87.1% |
| Timothy L. Allison | $30,023 | $4,903 | -83.7% |
| Roddy Jewell | $26,569 | $4,791 | -82% |
| Gloria L. Harris | $4,708 | $4,708 | 0% |
| Stephen James | $18,821 | $4,418 | -76.5% |
| Buford Kizzar | $15,840 | $4,077 | -74.3% |
| Todd J. Jackson | $21,545 | $3,915 | -81.8% |
| Gary Hale | $28,615 | $3,705 | -87.1% |
| David A. Shelby | $22,259 | $3,577 | -83.9% |
| Stephen F. Hixson | $13,213 | $3,505 | -73.5% |
| Calvin Earl Wright | $17,689 | $3,328 | -81.2% |
| Franklin E. Hale | $12,604 | $2,852 | -77.4% |
| Larry Miller | $12,491 | $2,653 | -78.8% |
| Juanita Owensby | $19,255 | $2,590 | -86.5% |
| Darwin R. Housley | $8,024 | $2,252 | -71.9% |
| Robert Runyan | $10,167 | $2,171 | -78.6% |
| Randell Thurman | $14,920 | $2,168 | -85.5% |
| William A. Henry | $12,635 | $2,113 | -83.3% |
| Claud D. Reeves | $14,733 | $2,063 | -86% |
| Gayle Epperly | $2,170 | $2,004 | -7.6% |
| Webb Farm Partnership | $11,950 | $1,952 | -83.7% |
| Hudson Cattle Company, LLC | $7,018 | $1,928 | -72.5% |
| Jackie G. Knox Jr. | $9,273 | $1,764 | -81% |
| Gena Hassler | $18,316 | $1,749 | -90.5% |
| Christopher D. Carter | $6,391 | $1,744 | -72.7% |
| Thomas E. Gadd | $8,808 | $1,697 | -80.7% |
| Don Massengale | $12,727 | $1,690 | -86.7% |
| James Keith Moore | $11,908 | $1,677 | -85.9% |
| Timothy M. Wright | $5,953 | $1,669 | -72% |
| Smith Sib Partners, Inc. | $5,678 | $1,614 | -71.6% |
| Danny Hill | $5,420 | $1,552 | -71.4% |
| Malcolm Goins | $7,963 | $1,534 | -80.7% |
| Jeremy Fitzgerald | $9,270 | $1,526 | -83.5% |
| Larry Stoecker | $3,212 | $1,487 | -53.7% |
| Matt Kaylor | $9,606 | $1,436 | -85.1% |
| Darryl Daniel | $14,901 | $1,425 | -90.4% |
| Harold Fisher | $6,736 | $1,384 | -79.5% |
| Larry E. Cunningham | $9,308 | $1,367 | -85.3% |
| Robert M. Aikman | $7,719 | $1,330 | -82.8% |
| Dewayne Bowers | $8,745 | $1,296 | -85.2% |
| Mitchell Cook Jr. | $9,114 | $1,280 | -86% |
| Billy Howell | $5,702 | $1,237 | -78.3% |
| Sammy Kay | $1,870 | $1,216 | -35% |
| Ferlon P. Daniel | $7,187 | $1,203 | -83.3% |
| Jimmy Johnson | $3,449 | $1,156 | -66.5% |
| Obie J. Sullivan Jr. | $9,984 | $1,156 | -88.4% |
| Danny L. Pace | $8,036 | $1,147 | -85.7% |
| Dean Leffew | $3,982 | $1,081 | -72.9% |
| Bruce Norton | $1,726 | $1,079 | -37.5% |
| James E. Vincent | $6,003 | $1,077 | -82.1% |
| Wanda White | $0 | $1,062 | -- |
| Hunter Hale | $17,372 | $1,035 | -94% |
| Joe Purser | $2,957 | $1,028 | -65.2% |
| Larry Dale Shaver | $6,648 | $1,025 | -84.6% |
| Mary G Balmer Estate | $8,831 | $1,006 | -88.6% |
| James H. Brooks | $5,621 | $1,000 | -82.2% |
| Jeffrey Brown | $4,081 | $869 | -78.7% |
| David O. Woods | $4,992 | $834 | -83.3% |
| William C. Gothard | $6,075 | $830 | -86.3% |
| Heath Smith | $7,677 | $809 | -89.5% |
| John Douglas Alley Jr. | $3,718 | $806 | -78.3% |
| Curtis A. Brady | $1,867 | $778 | -58.3% |
| Justin Cunningham | $4,616 | $764 | -83.4% |
| Avery Darrell Bell | $4,821 | $753 | -84.4% |
| Eddie Suttles | $4,598 | $685 | -85.1% |
| James Frankford Tollett Jr. | $10,315 | $663 | -93.6% |
| Leigh Donahue | $1,700 | $659 | -61.2% |
| George Randy Travis | $2,958 | $629 | -78.7% |
| Rickey A. Price | $2,883 | $618 | -78.6% |
| Ralph W. Everett | $3,069 | $578 | -81.2% |
| Travis V. Purser | $3,943 | $565 | -85.7% |
| Jason Lancaster | $4,741 | $551 | -88.4% |
| Edwin Scates | $3,025 | $544 | -82% |
| Bill W. Hollin | $6,173 | $540 | -91.3% |
| Michael Anderson Newton Ritchey | $3,175 | $528 | -83.4% |
| Richard Kell | $2,463 | $498 | -79.8% |
| James N. Jordan | $1,716 | $466 | -72.8% |
| Harley Dean Swafford | $2,930 | $448 | -84.7% |
| Ted E. Gravett | $1,881 | $423 | -77.5% |
| Boyd Wright | $2,335 | $422 | -81.9% |
| Lorenzo Phillips | $1,554 | $412 | -73.5% |
| William G. Burnette | $1,829 | $406 | -77.8% |
| Steve Bice | $1,868 | $398 | -78.7% |
| John Phillip Parks | $1,122 | $396 | -64.7% |
| Lovett Family Partnership, Ltd. | $3,701 | $394 | -89.4% |
| James J. Bolen | $2,038 | $394 | -80.7% |
| Brian Scott Shaver | $4,495 | $383 | -91.5% |
| Karen M. Bournes | $1,362 | $366 | -73.1% |
| Southerly Flower Farm, LLC | $6,761 | $364 | -94.6% |
| Douglas Edward Robinson | $2,441 | $358 | -85.3% |
| Jeremy Mickel | $2,723 | $357 | -86.9% |
| Samuel C. Bostic | $5,297 | $356 | -93.3% |
| Michael Gibson | $2,964 | $332 | -88.8% |
| Marvin R. Shaver | $1,243 | $326 | -73.8% |
| Jeff McMillen | $1,452 | $322 | -77.8% |
| Holly Mercer | $1,103 | $308 | -72.1% |
| Henry M. Mickel | $535 | $306 | -42.8% |
| Jay Elsea | $3,577 | $304 | -91.5% |
| James H. Blankenship | $1,144 | $290 | -74.7% |
| William D. Hensley | $1,788 | $283 | -84.2% |
| Steven Marler | $1,617 | $281 | -82.6% |
| Hugh Claiborne | $580 | $273 | -52.9% |
| Edwin Harvey | $2,030 | $266 | -86.9% |
| Shane Clark | $1,188 | $260 | -78.1% |
| William Byrd Kerley | $1,910 | $231 | -87.9% |
| Jason W. Adams | $1,454 | $214 | -85.3% |
| Jamie A. Lewis | $968 | $214 | -77.9% |
| Ruel D. Barnett | $1,675 | $208 | -87.6% |
| Larry Young | $1,704 | $197 | -88.4% |
| Mitchell Roberts | $7,354 | $175 | -97.6% |
| Diane Zickefoose | $3,864 | $167 | -95.7% |
| Jeffrey M. Hiestand | $1,026 | $163 | -84.1% |
| Nicole Ann Shelby | $321 | $157 | -51.1% |
| Bradley Aaron Tollett | $3,870 | $103 | -97.3% |
| Tollett Farms | $297 | $101 | -66% |
| Kenneth James Poseley | $423 | $80 | -81.1% |
| Bill Henderson | $0 | $69 | -- |
| Charles Roberts | $1,213 | $53 | -95.6% |
| Jerry Shelton | $8,296 | $49 | -99.4% |
| Bobby Mickel | $5,770 | $0 | -100% |
| Dallas E. Smith | $960 | $0 | -100% |
| Dawn M. Sullivan | $236 | $0 | -100% |
| Farm Service Agency/Commodity CRE | $1,947 | $0 | -100% |
| J. R. Roberts Jr. | $3,417 | $0 | -100% |
| Jennings W. Roberson | $3,707 | $0 | -100% |
| John F. Kelle | $82 | $0 | -100% |
| Kirkland R. Vincent | $183 | $0 | -100% |
| Marty J. Morgan | $1,620 | $0 | -100% |
| MPR Partnership | $8,341 | $0 | -100% |
| Ronald D. Colbaugh | $3,300 | $0 | -100% |
| Tom Best | $2,738 | $0 | -100% |
| William H. Horton | $384 | $0 | -100% |
| Nicholas Mooneyham | $1,164 | $0 | -100% |
| Aafke V Parker | $113 | $0 | -100% |
| Barbara Hardy | $1,564 | $0 | -100% |
| Ferlon Daniel | $1,694 | $0 | -100% |
| Gregory S. Goins | $151 | $0 | -100% |
| James A. Lemons | $426 | $0 | -100% |
| James W. Loden | $1,047 | $0 | -100% |
| Kathleen L. Wagner | $1,589 | $0 | -100% |
| Maria Kazmark | $183 | $0 | -100% |
| Rebecca Woods | $819 | $0 | -100% |
| Total subsidies | $1,411,589 | $972,854 | -31.1% |
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