Latest / The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
How the Government Pays Farmers Not to Farm
The US government pays billions every year to farmers not to grow crops — a policy called 'conservation set-asides' that dates back to the 1930s. In this episode, Lucas and Luna drill into the 2026 numbers: roughly $2.8 billion in Conservation Reserve Program payments, covering about 22 million acres. They examine how these payments suppress commodity supply, how the policy interacts with crop insurance subsidies, and why some economists argue the program is a hidden subsidy to agribusiness. Lucas walks through the history — from the Dust Bowl to the 2023 Farm Bill — and Luna…
The skinny
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