Episode 394: Why Taxpayers Pay For Farmers' Insurance
In spite of the drought, many U.S. farmers will do just fine this year. They are, after all, covered by crop insurance — a program that costs U.S. taxpayers $7 billion a year.
On today's show, we travel to Fairbury, Illinois. We meet three generations of farmers who tell us that, even without government-subsidized crop insurance, their farms would survive the drought.
So why does the government spend so much on crop insurance programs? We talk to an ag economist who has a surprising answer.