The American farmer contributes over one billion dollars a year for commodity programs. Commodity programs are all a little different, but all operate about the same way. The farmer when he sells his commodity has a small dollar amount held out of his check. Each individual commodity association program manages and controls their own collected funds. There are 22 national commodity programs under the supervision of the USDA, (2022 number) and to my knowledge there is only one commodity program that is regulated by each state and each state commodity organization contributes funds to a National organization, The National Corn Grower Association (NGGA). Commodity programs both state and national (USDA) have restrictions on how the funds are collected and used. No funds can be used to support any political candidate or political party policies. The national programs are much stricter than most state programs. The state commodity boards are elected by producers of the commodity in the state, usually from different districts in the state. This is true whether a state or national program. The national boards are selected by each state commodity board making nominations to the US secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary appoints the board members. There have only been a few times that I know of where the secretary appointed someone not nominated by the state board. The farmers serve without pay, but do get expenses to attend meetings and activities. The decisions these farmer boards have made over nearly 50 years have influenced all our lives. We all benefit from lotgs of commodity programs, bio fuels (cleaner air), cheaper more abundant food (raised shrimp), etc. Read “Your food My Adventure” Listen to Stu Ellis read it on Amazon’s Audible
