Food Democracy Now’s Dave Murphy has brought to our attention today’s deadline for closing a loophole that allows subsidy payments for large corporations. Murphy says of these subsidies,

“As part of his 2010 budget, the President proposed phasing-out direct payments in an attempt to save $9.8 billion over 10 years. Currently direct payments, which total $5.2 billion a year, are paid regardless of crop prices and are not tied to need.”

This means: Even in times of high commodity prices, corporate farmers still get a paycheck from the government…Today’s current subsidy system allows large corporate farms to take advantage of subsidy loopholes that place independent family farmers at a serious competitive disadvantage.