Who Gets Farm Subsidies? Individual Farmers vs Corporations
By Total Amount
By Recipient Count
| Entity Type | Recipients | Total | Avg Payment | Top Recipient |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Individual | 2,450,000 | $48.2B | $19,673 | Smith Farms |
| Corporation/LLC | 680,000 | $52.1B | $76,618 | Riceland Foods Inc |
| Partnership | 320,000 | $22.4B | $70,000 | Valley Cotton Growers |
| Joint Operation | 180,000 | $12.8B | $71,111 | Great Plains Farming Co |
| Trust/Estate | 95,000 | $5.6B | $58,947 | Anderson Family Trust |
| Government Entity | 42,000 | $3.9B | $92,857 | State of Texas |
| Cooperative | 18,000 | $1.6B | $88,889 | CHS Inc |
| Other/Unknown | 15,000 | $0.4B | $26,667 | Unknown Entity |
Key Insight: Corporate & LLC Share
Corporations, LLCs, and partnerships make up just 26% of recipients but collect 51% of all subsidy dollars. Their average payment is 4.0x the individual farmer average.
Understanding Entity Types in Farm Subsidies
When the USDA distributes farm subsidies, payments go to various types of legal entities — not just individual farmers. Corporations, LLCs, partnerships, and trusts can all receive payments, often at significantly higher average amounts than individual recipients. This structure allows some operations to collect from multiple programs through related entities, effectively circumventing per-person payment limits.
Government entities receiving farm subsidies may seem surprising, but these typically represent state-level conservation programs, tribal governments participating in USDA programs, or emergency disaster payments to public agricultural operations.
For more on corporate recipients, see our analysis of corporate farm subsidies. Browse all top recipients to see who collects the most.