The first major farm subsidies grew out of the Depression and Dust Bowl, when in 1933 the government began paying "parity" price roughly equal to what prices should be during favorable market times.

With grain prices soaring, farm income at record highs and the federal budget deficit widening, the subsidies and handouts given to American farmers would seem vulnerable to a serious pruning.

But it appears that farmers, at least so far, have succeeded in stopping the strongest effort in years to shrink the government safety net that doles out billions of dollars to them each year. --"Bountiful Harvest: Farm Lobby Beats Back Assault On Subsidies," THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, March 27, 2008