$4 ba keepn mind the fegovement wer, a rewould just costa fractt in fin t middle class,ting them billiota ha to lookt bwhenois that the obctems of tse subsidies is really nocessarily st to shore upgric, it'seshore up the consumer. what we'reer with these subsidies, e goal of these subsidies, is really anndant, safe, high-quality foodupy for the american consumer safe, high-quality at low prices. historically, when you look at what's going on in agriculture anwhat's goi o with the food supply, whatouin is has two million farms,nt.ss which are home to about 2% of the population. large commercial operations now dominate. 8% of the farms account for 72% of the sales. the best approach to the farm problem is still an open question. we put that question to economic analyst nariman behraves farm policy often has more to do wi politics than economics. a disproportionately large amount of political clout. it is no surprise that the farm progms introduced by both the clinton and bush ainistrations were timed to have maximum impact on elections. by the way, the politics of agriculture is also big in