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<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><b><span style='color:black'>Fresno
County farmers lead the nation in harvesting farm subsidies and have collected
nearly $1 billion since 1995, newly available Agriculture Department records
show. Other California counties are close behind. Kern, Colusa and Tulare
counties rank third, fourth and fifth respectively nationwide for total farm
subsidies received, with rice and cotton growers benefiting the most. Payments
to Fresno County farmers totaled $961 million between 1995 and 2009. Last year
alone, the farmers took in $75.9 million. “It’s a good thing,
because it shows we are putting federal dollars to work,” Fresno County
Farm Bureau Executive Director Ryan Jacobsen commented. Only about 10% of
California’s farmers receive subsidies, while the fruit and vegetable
crops for which the state is famous are largely unsubsidized. Despite the
abundant payments to certain Central Valley counties, California only ranks
ninth among states for total subsidies received.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><b><span style='color:black'> <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><b><span style='color:black'>
The newly available records update a popular subsidy database begun by the
Environmental Working Group in 2004. The organization releases the information
in hopes of influencing lawmakers to tighten payments, but its data is widely
respected as accurate. “We have a farm program that says the bigger you
get, the more you’ll get from the federal government,” said Chuck
Hassebrook, Executive Director of the Nebraska-based Center for Rural Affairs.
“This database documents the truth about this.”<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><b><span style='color:black'> <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='color:black'> The Sacramento-based
Farmers Rice Cooperative and the cotton-growing Dublin Farms and Hansen
Ranches, both based in Corcoran, have topped all other subsidy recipients in
California since 1995. For the Farmers Rice Cooperative, all of the money was
passed through to the 750 individual farmer members of the cooperative, and no
payments were received after 2006. Some public figures, too, have benefited
from the federal farm subsidy program. Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Visalia, is
identified as having received $57,193 in crop subsidies between 2001 and 2005.
Nunes took office in 2003. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='color:#948A54'>Byron Leydecker, JcT<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='color:#948A54'>Chair, Friends of Trinity
River<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='color:#948A54'>PO Box 2327<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='color:#948A54'>Mill Valley, CA 94942-2327<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='color:#948A54'>415 383 4810 land<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='color:#948A54'>415 519 4810 mobie<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='color:#4F81BD'>bwl3@comcast.net <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><u><span style='color:#4F81BD'>http://www.fotr.org<o:p></o:p></span></u></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p>
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