THB02 "Subsidy Gravy Train"; [email protected]

In his second installment of "Tales of the Hydraulic Brotherhood" California writer and water expert Lloyd Carter talks about the enormous water and crop subsidies flowing in disproportionate amounts to huge factories in the field in Central California's irrigation country. While California big agribusiness operations hide behind the "family farmer" label, they continue to rake in half a billion dollars a year in taxpayer money, according to reports by the Environmental Working Group. Surprisingly, conservative think tanks like the Heritage Foundation and the Cato Institute, also favor major reform of the farm and water subsidy system now in place.