Chad Hart, associate professor, was quoted in a Dec. 12 Marketplace.org story, "These are the states benefiting the most from the $28 billion farm bailout."
Chad Hart, an associate professor of economics at Iowa State University, said federal farm payments have historically targeted specific crops, which include wheat, corn, cotton, rice, sorghum, barley and oats, and have later grown to include soybeans and dry beans.
“It just so happens that the major production regions for these crops are the Midwest and the South, areas you could argue that are more dependent for agriculture for economic activity than other parts of the country,” Hart said in an emailed statement.
Emeritus professor Bruce Babcock was also quoted in the story:
“You gotta remember why the trade aid is there: they’re political payments to farmers to keep them in the Republican fold,” said Bruce Babcock, a professor of public policy at the University of California, Riverside. “Trump hurt farm income through his trade tariffs. And so what they’re trying to do is keep a big force — rural Americans and farmers — voting Republican.”