" There should be more articles like this on the front page of every paper. Farming is a scam and I for one am tired of hearing the poor me stories of farmers. These people take and take and pay little or no taxes compared to the average working couple who pay and pay and get nothing in return. "

" I sat on a jury a few years ago in which the plaintiff was a farmer. His tax returns were shown to us and according to what he told the IRS, he only earned about $400 in that whole year. But he was driving a brand-new, optioned-out pickup truck and had just bought a brand new combine. Either he was not telling the truth to the IRS or the farm system let him get away with that. "

" There are a few bad apples in the bunch like everywhere else but small family farms can't make it. Maybe large corporate farms should have their subsidies cut. If you read that Washington Post article you would know that it focuses on the doctors and lawyers buying up all the farmers land and then receiving the subsidy on ground that more than likely isn't even being farmed! "

" I am still shaking my head. Is FEMA now in charge here???? Then sign me up! I think I can create a small farm if I just plow up my yard. What's the phone number to sign me up? "

" I am so proud of the farmers of our state, not. If I hear they feed the world or don't talk with your mouth full one more time, I will throw up. At what point will we say enough is enough. I'm tired of affluent farmers getting tens and tens of thousands of dollars every year while my taxes keep going up and up. "

" You guys should try farming it's not easy and it is very expensive work growing the nation's food supply. You have to buy the seed, buy the equipment and combines and tractors run in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. You need places to store it so you have to pay the granaries, you need grain trucks to hall it in, those aren't cheap either, then you need a planter to plant, tillers and discs to work the soil. You need to buy chemicals to spray the crop and you usually have to hire people to do that. Factor in droughts, so you need crop insurance. Then factor in raising a family and the costs are simply too large. Farmers would be in debt up to the millions, we'd have to go back to a sharcropping system if you expect farmers to pay for it all. As for the brand new truck, if the farmer uses it for his work then he doesn't have to pay for it, same with the combine. It's called write offs so that the farmers can keep farming and not absorb such debts. Corporate America does it all of the time and farming is a business as well that is very necessary for us to feed each other and the cattle so that people can have their bread and eat their steak and burgers. "

" I always have to laugh when people complain about farmers and bad-mouth them with full stomachs. I challenge those who bad-mouth farmers to give it a go for a year and see how rich they get. "

" How did it get started that some people should be guaranteed a living? The rest of us work and compete in a free enterprise world. Others just whine, beg, and steal from the taxpayers. If I hear we feed the world or don't talk with your mouth full one more time, I will throw up. "

" Whine, whine, whine... Here, lets flip a bit...pretend I'm a "conservative" and I'll give you the conservative responses...Cut subsidies for corporate farming? Why? Class warfare!!! Why should the rich and successful be punished for being rich and successfull! Farming is hard? Then don't farm! It's expensive and you go into debt? Personal responsibility! If you can't afford it, don't do it! Don't expect everyone else to have to bail you out! You get to write off your expenses, like a tractor or truck? Gee, then why aren't poor people who have no transportation to work not allowed to write off the cost of used car for transportation? Why aren't they allowed to write off the full cost of child care (which can cost hundreds per month in some major cities)? Face it - there is welfare for the poor, welfare for the farmer, welfare for the rich! Unfortunately, until recently it seemed only the poor were being denounced for welfare, while everyone else got a pass. Perhaps that will change now... "

" As I farmer in the 3rd district, it is good to know that we are first in something. Since food stamps are part of the "farm bill", I wonder which district is first in food stamp dollars recieved? How many millions of dollars did each congressional district recieve in food stamp dollars last year? How about in the last decade? Which district in Nebraska recieved the most food stamp dollars last year and in the last decade? We have no problem letting everyone know who recieved farm program dollars, and how much they recieved, why don't we let everyone know who recieved food stamp dollars and how much they recieved? Why doesn't the LJS do a story about the food stamp dollars sent to each district? The farm bill is nothing more than a "Cheap Food Policy". Corn has risen to $3.50 or so a bushel which is about the same as it was back in 1974. Is anyone one else selling their products for the same price they were 30 years ago? Is LJS selling papers for the same price as 30 years ago? Are teachers, government workers,factory workers, editors, and anybody else working for the same wages as 30 years ago? Are the farmers costs of production hirer than 30 years ago? Is the cost of health care and health insurance higher than 30 years ago? Then why do you expect a farmer to sell his crop for less tha he got 30 years ago? To prevent the public from rioting over food supplies, the federal government gives the farmer a few dollars of subsidizes to guarentee vast supplies of cheap, available, and safe food to the public. I am one farmer who wants the market to determine what I grow at what price, not the government giving me a few dollars to prevent food riots. "

" If I have a small business with a showroom floor and I don't make it can I convert my showroom to crp and get the government to bail me out before I have to declare bankruptsy? Probably not as I am a small middle to low income person who don't have lobbyist in washington. This stuff has got to stop. I have a brother in law who complains about the government and says he don't take a penny, but, in checking the agency that gives away the money he and his wife and boy has gotten close to 600,000 in the last 4 years. I could stay in business for that. I hope the FARMERS and RANCHERS IN NEBRASKA ARE RED FACED ABOUT IT. The entire population should be redfaced. "

" Can't say I'm surprised by the comments here...I just hope nobody's griping with their mouths full. "

" It makes me sick when any paper or article or news story lumps all farmers together!! Get smart, people, find out who owns these huge farms...would you be surprised to see Drs, bankers, corporate owners names on them!! These corporations are the very ones who are taking the money and are killing the small family farms...stop biting the hand that feeds you!!!!! "

" Anyone know what they call a basement full of farmers? Its a whine cellar. I am so tired of hearing about the plight of the farmer. Hello, its tough for anyone to make a living. Last time I checked no one held a gun to these poor farmers heads to force em into farming. If you cant make a living then get out. Otherwise quit complaining. You have no one to blame but yourself. "

" This is why property taxes are so high. The innocent people in the towns with no farm connections get their throats cut because the city leadership thinks if some get a bundle then they can tax everyone to their last dime. Just like CEO's getting big bonuses, consumer goods are priced to grab the CEO's big bucks and the rest of us have to sink or swim. Nobody cares. Like a homeless man in my former city lived in a van parked on a towing company's lot for 7 years, no income. Towing company let him run an electric cord to their office and he could use their restroom. People gave him food off and on. He was 93. People are like animals, except animals are treated better. "

" What an unbelievably distorted article. The food subsidies are NOT for farmers. All of us city dwellers are receiving CHEAP, CHEAP, CHEAP food as a result of the cheap food policy. What on earth is wrong with having the government control the quantity (perpetual oversupply by financial incentive) so the rest of us NEVER have to worry about supply? Let us never forget that grain production is absolutely in a class by its self and we cannot rely on supply and demand to set the price of commodities. To do so would mean that someone needs to face the threat of starvation in order for the market to respond with a higher price. How absolutely ridiculous. It is imperative that we continue to have the granary full in November. That food has to last until the next harvest and that fact alone justifies entirely the government intervention to create price depressing over supplies since the 30's. The debate should focus entirely on the distribution system of subsidies and not on their value. I am 52 years old and have never once in my entire lifetime had to be hungry for lack of supply. Correct me if I am wrong, but I speculate that I am part of the first generation in the history of man that can say that and I must live in the USA to make the claim. Show me a country with a government that failed to keep its population well supplied with food and it will represent a serious trouble spot in history. Thank you congress for properly appropriating my tax dollars for the most justifiable financial program ever designed by man. Work on the inequities of the delivery system, but do not question the validity and success of the concept. Our grocery stores are the envy of the entire world and their existance is a direct result of taxpayer subsidies to produce over supply and cheap food. Like most Americans, I work every day to supply myself and my familly with luxuries and conveniences because I spend a disproportionately small part of my earned income for food. The nice home I live in, the nice cars we drive, college education for my daughters, our vacations, and our long term security are all a direct result of cheap food policy. Farm subsidies are not a problem, they are a blessing and a gift to all of us. Look closely at the sad state of affairs in other countries where the free market controls the price and supply of grain. "

" Without food stamp authority in the Farm Bill you'd never get enough votes to get the Farm Bill out of committee. It's not really surprising that the 3rd Dist got lots of subsidies given the drought they're in and have been in for years. That's when subsidy money is SUPPOSED to flow. What is discouraging is the denial the 3rd Dist. lives in. They're one huge welfare case with farm subsides, social security, Medicaid for grandma's nursing home bill, roads and services and schools paid by the State and Fed. government. At the same time they preach and vote that Right Wing Republican nonsense as if they're paying their own bills! Good grief, they just elected Adrian Smith! What more can you say? Just a few years ago, the Third District had 3 of the 10 poorest counties in the United States! They're always there with their hand out for more goverment money, but cast their votes to people that cut poor children's health insurance coverage. They're a selfish, ignorant lot that show up in church every Sunday to complain about the sins of others, but never see their own. Luckily, all their children are moving away to regions that provide the opportunities that they don't provide so in the not too distant future, they won't matter at all. They'll just go away. "

" We need more Randy's. Randy is right on the mark. Farming isn't free enterprise. The govt determines what farmers get for their product. Not farmers. The govt imports agricultural products to ensure thee is more than enough supply to meet the demand. Paying farmers subsidies is better than listening to all the city people whine about how much a big mac costs. "

" I love listening to farmers justifying and rationalizing the taking of other peoples money for their benefit. I found it interesting that the article asked the question: can nebraska communities exist without the good graces of the taxpayers. Sad when you have become dependent on the handouts to exist, isn't it. By the way, our food isn't really that cheap if you pay taxes to support the subsidies. What a welfare state. Get a job Randy. "

" Goodness, now ethanol too will complicate the subsidy and food (red meat) price structure. Subsidies are causing higher prices and lack of global price competition. Free the markets and food prices might go down. Free farmers from deoendence on subsidies so they stand up so taxpayers can step down. "

" Ok, so we get cheap food, but who is paying the subsidies? I guess that is free money that just grows on trees... "

" Hjalmer hit the nail on the head! The third district is solidly Republican because The Pubs tend to support the status quo. They also tend to support keeping the money all in the family. I am going to agree that the government should not be setting target prices. Let's get the government completely out of farming. No target prices - and no subsities either. Let's see what happens to the ethanol industry when they have to pay an honest price for their corn. That is another case of false economics - someone depending on a subsity to make a profit. Most of the third district was never designed as cropland anyway. The average farmer there has to waste thousands and thousands of gallons of water per acre in order to grow anything. Oh yes, there are state subsities looming on the horizon for the soon to be non-irrigators too. "

" THE NIGHT THE WATER TOWER BURNED IN GARLAND Fear is a strong influence in the lives of each one of us. Children encounter many things that create fear. The way in which that fear is either fed or challenged has a shaping affect on their lives. Summer storms that cradle tornadoes, hail and heavy rain are a part of mid-western experience. Dark rolling clouds were the signal of danger. The shrill drone of the local Volunteer Fire Department siren invited both fear and excitement because it announced a fire. Every day the whistle blew at 12 noon and again at 6 in the evening. But everyone stopped to listen if the siren blew at another time. The up and down wailing sent a chill up and down our spine. It meant a fire. Our house caught fire. My mother was cooking on a wood stove and some of the sparks from the chimney ignited the shingle roof. I’m not sure whether I know about this because my older sisters and brother talked about it or whether I really remember the scene of the fire department hooking up its hoses and dousing the fire on the roof. My sister and I were herding our flock of geese across the street in the schoolyard when it happened. However, the most memorable fire of my life happened late one evening. It was during the great drought in the early l930s. We had no substantial rain for months. It was common for storms to come up with lightning and thunder but NO RAIN and a lot of “dry lightning”. On this evening we were hopeful that the dark, heavy clouds with their peeling thunder off in the distance would bring rain. The lightning was spectacular. The thunder deafening. There was a blinding flash of lightning, the crash of thunder, and everyone was wondering where the strike took place. Then someone looked up at the water tower and noticed smoke coming from the pipe in the middle of the water tower tank. The tower was directly behind our house. The pipe that both carried water to and from the tank was covered with heavy insulation. The lightning ignited that insulation. When we called in the fire report they thought we were joking. They did however blow the whistle and come down to the fire. The tank was more than 100 feet high. There was no way that the fire equipment could cope with such a fire. A few brave souls tried climbing the ladder, but it was too risky. As the fire burned the sparks from the insulation began to blow in the wind. They showered down onto our house and the firefighters turned their hoses on our roof. The storm passed with almost no rain. There was little sleep that night as we watched and waited hoping and praying that the wind would blow the sparks another way. As the fire burned down there were fewer and fewer sparks but there was also less water pressure. It was well into the next day before the danger of the fire no longer existed. This is one of those interesting little tidbits of idle talk when conversation becomes slow, “Do you want to hear about the night our water tower burned?” When the tower was repaired, my brother, sisters, and I sold cold water from our deep well to the workers as they climbed around in 100-degree summer heat. It was one of the few opportunities that we had to earn a little extra money during those drought depression years. "

" Ah, "TL" is from my former city where the 93 yr old man lived in his van in a towing businesses parking lot. At least people gave the man food and the right people (TV) heard about it and he now has an Apt. Frankly, if that man lived in Lincoln, I doubt he'd be so lucky. I volunteered at the shelters for a number of years there. People were more giving there, and my property taxes are four times more in Lincoln than my former city. If I'd lived there last year my state taxes would have been half what they are in Nebraska. Your right, Lincoln is out for the jugler vein. My sibling & I inhereted a small farm and finally had to sell, a small farmer can't make it, yet Lincoln thinks because the retired farmers move to Lincoln to be near a hospital they are rich and they have a never ending pot of gold. Might be better in the eastern part but central and western Nebraska is pityfull. Those people are barely hanging by a string unless they farm thousands of acres. Many would like to move to Lincoln close to a good hospital, but they can't afford to live in Lincoln. That happened to my parents!! Lincoln could care less, they just want every dime you have. Wasn't like that in my former city. They are working to reduce the property taxes to "take the burden off the citizens" whos taxes are even lower than in Lincoln, and you'll never see that happen in Lincoln!!!! "