Most farmers don ' t abuse subsidies , find some farmers near you and research years that they took subsidies and the amount . that is all public information I almost guarantee that 95 % of them are using the system honestly and only took subsidies during years the market was down or perhaps yields were low . Some people do abuse it , for example I know one family in Nebraska that took over 1 million dollars in subsidies and I am almost certain they didn ' t need it and that is where the problem is . As for ethanol , using it can reduce emissions by nearly 50 % which is a huge difference . Yes it is hard on older engines and small engines so just don ' t use it in them ? Ethanol is not the enemy , where I live almost every fuel has 10 % ethanol in it and does not affect a single thing and there is a lot of jobs that are ethanol related . Corn is a big part of our economy and that ' s the way it is and probably will continue to be .