Y'know what I find funny? And I don't mean "funny, ha, ha" but "funny - that's odd..." is that I was able to get into farming, without any experience in farming, without any bank lending, without any subsidies, government programs, etc...

And I made a profit and paid taxes to the county, state, and Feds, without accepting one dime of federal program money. 

What did I get for it? The NASS calling me twice a year, threatening me with fines if I didn't comply with their surveys. I had to point out to them again and again that I had taken no program money whatsoever, and so I didn't have to report squat to them. Called it out, Title, Chapter, etc in law. They would admit I was correct, and I never got fined. But it also never made them stop calling - they just assumed that because I was a farmer, I had to be taking Uncle Sugar Daddy's money sooner or later, and they would have me by the short hairs.

After that experience, if I ever go into farming or ranching again, you can bet your last dollar that I will not take one dime of Uncle Sugar Daddy's money - because to do so means I'd be under their thumb.

I warned people here on NAT almost 20 years ago now that there would come a time in the financial collapse of the US that farmers would be cut out of the federal budget because of the votes vs. dollars computations. That time might be at hand.