Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Subsidies for Rich Farmers Hit; Rancho Santa Fe Farmer Agrees

The Washington, D.C.-based Environmental Working Group is out with its annual database of federal farm subsidy recipients from 1995 through 2010, searchable by zip code, and more than a few downtown San Diego, La Jolla, and Rancho Santa Fe addresses are on it.

"The fact is, you can be a city slicker in Miami Beach or Beverly Hills and collect farm subsidy payments," the group says on its website. "All you have to do is have an ownership interest in some Iowa farmland.

"While 60 percent of American farmers must get along without a dime in federal subsidies, the so-called farm 'safety net' benefits a narrow band of the wealthiest agri-businesses and absentee land owners and the lobbyists who ensure that the subsidies keep flowing.

"The last farm bill, passed in 2008, was supposed to prevent people who weren’t actively engaged in farming from getting farm payments. It is clear those reforms didn’t work.

"Once again we've exposed the fact that our government is doling out subsidies to big farms that don't need the help and a lot of folks who don't live anywhere near a farm. (Don't believe us? Try entering 90210 in our database and you'll meet the "Farmers of Beverly Hills".)"

According to the database, there are many in San Diego county who collect subsidies. Among them is the Victor and Joyce Copeland trust, ranked second in the horsey village of Rancho Santa Fe, with a total of $862,050 in subsidies for wheat, corn, soybean, sorghum and barley in Colorado and Kansas.

But Vic Copeland, a retired Encinitas optometrist, said in a phone interview yesterday that he's not a typical city slicker. He says he still actively farms his 2500 acres himself, relying on subcontractors to plant and harvest his crops.

On top of that, at age 69, he's a champion Masters cyclist:

http://articles.latimes.com/1991-07-27/sports/sp-114_1_rancho-santa-fe

Copeland says he agrees with the Environmental Working Group that farm subsidies should be abolished.

"I would like very much for us not to have subsidies. What people don't realize is, the government manipulates the prices, it's not just a handout," says the genial Copeland, who was born in Dodge City, Kansas.

"We'd all be much better off if the government would get out of everybody's business."

EWG's zip-code searchable database of farm subsidies is here:

http://farm.ewg.org/

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all

Previous article

Syrian treat maker Hakmi Sweets makes Dubai chocolate bars

Look for the counter shop inside a Mediterranean grill in El Cajon

The Washington, D.C.-based Environmental Working Group is out with its annual database of federal farm subsidy recipients from 1995 through 2010, searchable by zip code, and more than a few downtown San Diego, La Jolla, and Rancho Santa Fe addresses are on it.

"The fact is, you can be a city slicker in Miami Beach or Beverly Hills and collect farm subsidy payments," the group says on its website. "All you have to do is have an ownership interest in some Iowa farmland.

"While 60 percent of American farmers must get along without a dime in federal subsidies, the so-called farm 'safety net' benefits a narrow band of the wealthiest agri-businesses and absentee land owners and the lobbyists who ensure that the subsidies keep flowing.

"The last farm bill, passed in 2008, was supposed to prevent people who weren’t actively engaged in farming from getting farm payments. It is clear those reforms didn’t work.

"Once again we've exposed the fact that our government is doling out subsidies to big farms that don't need the help and a lot of folks who don't live anywhere near a farm. (Don't believe us? Try entering 90210 in our database and you'll meet the "Farmers of Beverly Hills".)"

According to the database, there are many in San Diego county who collect subsidies. Among them is the Victor and Joyce Copeland trust, ranked second in the horsey village of Rancho Santa Fe, with a total of $862,050 in subsidies for wheat, corn, soybean, sorghum and barley in Colorado and Kansas.

But Vic Copeland, a retired Encinitas optometrist, said in a phone interview yesterday that he's not a typical city slicker. He says he still actively farms his 2500 acres himself, relying on subcontractors to plant and harvest his crops.

On top of that, at age 69, he's a champion Masters cyclist:

http://articles.latimes.com/1991-07-27/sports/sp-114_1_rancho-santa-fe

Copeland says he agrees with the Environmental Working Group that farm subsidies should be abolished.

"I would like very much for us not to have subsidies. What people don't realize is, the government manipulates the prices, it's not just a handout," says the genial Copeland, who was born in Dodge City, Kansas.

"We'd all be much better off if the government would get out of everybody's business."

EWG's zip-code searchable database of farm subsidies is here:

http://farm.ewg.org/

Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

San Diego GOP congressmen's donors

Reverge Anselmo, Doug Manchester, J. Dennis Heipt
Next Article

Rancho Santa Fe 3rd Priciest Zip Code

Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader