The U.S. Agricultural Department is demanded by law (a variety of U.S. farm bills which are passed every few years) to subsidize over two dozen commodities. Between 1996 and 2002, an average of $16 billion/year was paid by programs authorised by a variety of U.S. farm bills dating back to the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933, the Agricultural Act of 1949, and the Commodity Credit Corporation (created in 1933), among others.
The beneficiaries of the subsidies have altered as agriculture in the United States has changed. In the 1930s, approximately 25% of the country's population occupied on the nation's 6,000,000 ...