Buried deep in the Omnibus, Division HH, Title V, aptly named “Other Matters,” includes additional subsidies for some special parts of agriculture.

* Cotton subsidies, layered on thick:  Section 601, entitled “Support for Cotton Merchandisers” is just like it sounds, directing $100 million for cotton merchandisers in the name of COVID-19 pandemic assistance. The cotton industry and its supply chain are no strangers to federal taxpayer subsidies. Already “approximately $80 million in additional payments to domestic users of upland and extra-long staple cotton” was added during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is on top of federally subsidized crop insurance for growers of cotton, a separate crop insurance policy add-on subsidizing small dips in income entitled the Stacked Income Protection Plan (STAX), and the Cotton Ginning Cost Share program where taxpayers subsidize companies that process raw cotton. Under this Omnibus provision, USDA will be able to compensate cotton merchandisers for COVID-19 supply chain disruptions and economic impacts dating back to March 1, 2020, nearly three years ago. So, if you’re keeping track, taxpayers now subsidize cotton growers, the companies that process the cotton, the companies that sell it, and even the companies that use it. Perhaps soon, there will be USDA subsidies for consumers to buy cotton products? Only time will tell.

Sing it with me – Cotton, the fabric of our collective-publicly-subsidized li-i-ives!

* Rice, rice baby:  $250 million is provided in Section 602 for a “one-time payment to each producer of rice on a farm” in 2022. Why? The bill doesn’t say. No other crop is lucky enough to be singled out for such lucrative, special interest carve-outs, except those people selling cotton of course. Given rice producers are already subsidized through federal crop insurance, government-set price supports, marketing loans, and trade promotion programs, these payments are ripe for duplication and taxpayer waste. In case that wasn’t enough, the bill stipulates these payments are subject to a payment limit ($250,000 if 75 percent of your income comes from farming, or $125,000 if farming is just a side hustle), but this limit is calculated separately from all the other payments they may get from other farm bill programs. In other words, certain large agricultural operators growing rice win while taxpayers, farmers growing other crops, beginning and underserved farmers, and so many others lose.