Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Big Sugar: Oink, Oink, Oink ... by gimleteye


POSTED: November 21, 2011

With the upcoming presidential election accelerating the focus on November 2012, one issue that will most likely be decided before either President Obama takes a second term or one of his Republican challengers takes the oath of office is the latest version of the farm bill. The farm bill is a massive spending measure that covers a wide variety of agriculture issues from crop insurance to food stamps and is taken up by Congress every five years. Below is an analysis conducted and released by MapLight on contributions connected to the agribusiness sector to members of the House and Senate agriculture committees from Jan. 1, 2001 to June 30, 2011. The figures below only include contributions coded as belonging to the agribusiness sector by the Center for Responsive Politics. They do not necessarily represent all contributions from the organization (and its employees) to members of the House and Senate Agriculture committees.

Agribusiness contributions to ag committees:

Crop production & basic processing: $3,841,515
Milk & dairy producers: $2,885,370
Sugar cane & sugar beets: $2,602,764
Agricultural services & related industries: $1,992,829
Livestock: $1,937,774
Agricultural chemicals: $1,464,683
Tobacco & Tobacco products: $1,386,264
Forestry & Forest Products: $1,289,472
Poultry & eggs: $1,208,714
Other commodities (including rice, peanuts, honey): $1,207,043
Vegetables, fruits and tree nut: $948,485
Farm organizations & cooperatives: $877,646
Animal feed & health products: $862,504
Cotton: $762,718
Farm machinery & equipment: $734,600
Wheat, corn, soybeans and cash grain: $656,066
Veterinarians: $554,450
Grain traders & terminals: $366,450
Paper & pulp mills and paper manufacturing: $356,716
Florists & Nursery Services: $232,350
Feedlots & related livestock services: $198,300
Horse breeders: $165,575
Agriculture: $106,680
Sheep and Wool Producers: $52,500
Total: $26,691,468

Top contributors in specific crop/product groups
Dairy contributions to ag committees
Dairy Farmers of America: $550,100
Land O'Lakes: $380,980
Dean Foods: $377,400
International Dairy Foods Association: $296,053
California Dairies Inc: $294,400

Sugar contributions to ag committees
American Crystal Sugar: $984,998
Southern Minn Beet Sugar Co-Op: $329,957
American Sugar Cane League: $223,469
Minn-Dak Farmers Co-Op: $185,560
Florida Crystals: $170,250

Livestock contributions to ag committees
National Pork Producers Council: $276,214
National Cattlemen's Beef Association: $275,238
Livestock Marketing Association: $95,000
Texas Cattle Feeders Association: $94,000
Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers: $65,500
Poultry/Eggs contributions to ag committees
United Egg Association: $414,500
National Chicken Council: $235,565
National Turkey Federation: $170,034
Tyson Foods: $117,150
Pilgrim's Pride Corp: $55,650
Rice contributions to ag committees
USA Rice Federation: $198,381
Farmers' Rice Cooperative: $138,042
Riceland Foods: $75,990
California Rice Industry Association Fund: $66,220
Producers Rice Mill Inc: $49,000
Cotton contributions to ag committees
National Cotton Council: $332,718
American Cotton Shippers Association: $80,000
Southern Cotton Growers Inc: $60,000
Plains Cotton Growers: $40,750
Calcot Ltd: $36,000
Corn contributions to ag committees
National Corn Growers Association: $66,666
Iowa Corn Growers Association: $23,325
Corn Producers Association of Texas: $11,700
Minnesota Corn Growers Association: $11,050
Corn Refiners Association: $3,750
Soybeans contributions to ag committees
AG Processing: $163,000
American Soybean Association: $87,000
Owensboro Grain: $5,000
Missouri Soybean Association: $4,000
North Carolina Soybean Producers Association: $500
Wheat contributions to ag committees
National Association of Wheat Growers: $103,950
Texas Wheat Producers Association: $13,300
Midwest Grain Products: $4,600
Miller Milling Co: $1,000
Colorado Association of Wheat Growers: $500

METHODOLOGY: MapLight analysis of campaign contributions to the current members (as of Nov. 14, 2011) of the House and Senate Agriculture committees from the Agribusiness sector from Jan. 1, 2001-June 30, 2011. Campaign finance data and industry classifications provided by the Center for Responsive Politics.

Follow this link for contributions to legislators: maplight.org/content/72865
Follow this link for contributions made to members of the Super Committee: maplight.org/content/72862.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Molto interessante davvero

Sparrow said...

Don't forget about the members of the Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, since they pay out directly to their donors. Congress is definitely bought and paid for. I cant even imagine the amounts contributed to Armed Services Committee members.